The rules were not created by the lenders they were created by the Fed. The lenders didn't have the ability to "relax the rules"....the Fed had to do it.
Now, I'm not saying that there aren't money hungry lenders out there who don't give a damn how they close a loan, because there certainly are. But the reality is that too many people who could not afford to buy houses decided to do so, thought the ARM was the way to go (because the interest rate'll never go UP, right???) and financed 100% of what they couldn't handle in the first place.

Leenia, unless you owned the house next door the mortgage company wouldn't have talked to you anyway...that would be a violation of privacy of the owner. And sadly, thousands of business have switched to the automated phone system, not just "shady" lenders.