CHICAGO (Reuters) - Jillayne Schlicke’s father used to tell her that mortgage banking was the "highest calling of all" because it involved helping people live the American dream of homeownership.

"I learned how to spell ‘mortgage’ when I was about 6 years old. It was on a flash card," said Schlicke, the daughter of two mortgage bankers and co-executive director of the Ethical Lending Foundation near Seattle.

As a widening crisis over nontraditional and subprime mortgages gone bad threatens to force millions of people out of their homes, Schlicke worries that mortgage brokers are well on their way to overtaking used car salesmen on the list of professions least trusted by consumers.

"We’re in ethical chaos in mortgage lending," said Schlicke, who followed in her parents’ footsteps and became a mortgage banker and now teaches classes for real estate agents, lenders and consumers on ethical mortgage practices.

"All you have to do is open up your spam (e-mail) bin and you see porn spam, and you see Viagra spam, and you see mortgage spam," she said, adding that the unethical behavior of a small minority of brokers was tainting the entire industry.

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