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Bobbi Giguere requested a mortgage modification from Wells Fargo, her mortgage servicer. She sent the bank the appropriate documents, which would supposedly be used to determine whether or not she was eligible for a modification. All she wanted was a “yes,” or “no.”

According to  the New York Times, the answer Giguere received: “Send us your paperwork again.” She did. Three times.

Giguere subsequently filed bankruptcy, and told her story to Judge Randolph J. Haines, who expressed concern. As a matter of fact, he had heard similar stories from other debtors.

“This is certainly not an isolated case,” Haines said at the hearing. “The kind of story I hear from this debtor is one that I and other bankruptcy judges are hearing over and over again.”

Mortgage servicers are not getting back to clients requesting a modification under the Obama administration’s plan to provide homeowner relief. The homeowner relief plan is designed to help people avoid Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Haines had had enough, and he made sure that the bank’s representative at Giguere’s hearing was one who could give him answers. He ordered Joseph Ohayon, senior vice president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Servicing, to take the stand.

Questioned by his own attorneys, Ohayon told the court that Giguere had failed to provide a critical financial worksheet, hence the bank’s request for paperwork. On cross-examination, however, Bobbi Giguere, with the patient assistance of Judge Haines, had her own “My Cousin Vinnie” moment. She produced a letter from Wells Fargo outlining what paperwork she needed to submit to file for a loan modification. The missing financial worksheet was not mentioned.

After reading the letter aloud in court, Ohayon conceded the point. “Ms. Giguere is right,” he concluded.

For homeowners across the country, answers are difficult to come by without a court summons. Judges are calling mortgage servicers onto the carpet for failing to properly process payments and for inaccuracies in foreclosure flings.

“The judges are seeing more and more of a pattern of indifference to record-keeping and good business practices,” says Robert Lawless, a law professor at the University of Illinois.

The result: Homeowners facing foreclosure and filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy when a loan modification might have been sufficient.

In fact, Wells Fargo decided in March of this year that Giguere did not qualify for a mortgage modification. She learned of their decision only during court testimony.

“When did you tell the debtors that their loan was no longer being considered for modification?” Judge Haines asked.

“We haven’t,” Ohayon responded. “They’ve never been told.”

He added: “Customer communication is something we’re taking a serious look at, your honor.”

Wells Fargo has pledged to renew negotiations with Giguere over her case, though her mounting financial woes may prove insurmountable. The bank was not sanctioned in her case, but the court did extract a pledge to improve customer communication practices and provide more routes for homeowners seeking modifications.

At the very least, Giguere was finally able to get a straight answer without hearing, “I’ll have to check with my manager and get back to you.”