The financial-sector meltdown in 2008 brought to light the greed and lack of regulation on Wall Street. While CEOs and the management teams of various brokerage firms received millions upon millions of dollars in compensation, nearly 7.3 million Americans defaulted on their home loans between 2008 and 2010.

While the act of being in default does not mean that a consumer was necessarily a victim of fraudulent behavior, the real estate boom and subsequent real estate bust have highlighted unscrupulous behavior on the part of some banks and other lenders including:

• Aggressive sales tactics
• Bait and switch schemes
• Excessive fees at closing/settlement
• Debt consolidation services where the consolidators take huge portions out of payments debtors think are going to paying down debt
• Unethical lenders offering home equity lines of credit with unreasonable interest rates and hidden fees
• Equity strippers who claim to rescue homeowners by buying out their mortgages and then selling the home out from under the family
• Lenders who fail to disclose the fees and rates associated with a mortgage, leaving a family with a house they'll never be able to afford