Q: My lender is one of the big box lenders that has had all kinds of trouble with their loan modifications. I went through the total disaster HAMP program and it took a year for the bank to finally give me a loan modification.

I finally got my loan modification in May, 2010, and the bank reported me as delinquent the entire time I was in the trial modification, destroying my credit.

I own a small business and can’t get credit because of this. I pleaded my case to the bank, the credit bureaus, the Treasury Department, and dozens of others. No one seems to be able to get the banks to do anything to help consumers.

What banks have done during the HAMP process is illegal. It should also be illegal to take a year to complete what should have been a three month trial period.

Any advice on what I should do next?

A: Your situation is extremely unfortunate. The recession hit your business, and the effect of the being reported as delinquent has now made it difficult to get the financing you need to get your business working again. There are thousands of business owners who are suffering similar twin financial blows.

Now that you are in a permanent loan modification, your credit should start to improve. Some homeowners are finding that once their permanent loan modification take hold, their lenders start reporting the loans as current, which helps rebuild their credit. But it may take a long time, years perhaps, for your credit to get back to where it was.

As for loan modifications taking too long to be processed, I hear you. But none of the banks was really ready for the onslaught of homeowners in need and the Obama administration was too generous in letting banks set unrealistic timetables.

Unfortunately, at this point there’s really nothing you can do other than filing a complaint with the OCC’s website at HelpWithMyBank.gov.