foreclosure

I less than one payment behind on my home and have the bank threatening me with foreclosure. Is it likely that they would follow through with that threat or are they just trying to intimidate me? I've communicated with their customer assistance programs but typically I never hear back. They even had someone out taking pictures of the house a few weeks ago. I'm not sure how the whole foreclosure process works. Any feedback ?

Do you have a trust deed or a mortgage against the property? It makes a difference time wise as to the procedure. In a mortgage based state, the lender must first go to court and get an OK from the judge to start foreclosure. The rest of the process takes up to a year and there is a right of redemption that prolongs the process.

On the hand, if you live in a trust deed state, the time is only 121 days from beginning to end. The first document the lender must file is generally titled, Notice of Default (NOD). An NOD starts the timeline. After about 90 days, they file a second document called a Notice Of Intent To Sell (NOIS). This has to run for three consecutive weeks in your local newspaper or legal newspaper if your county has one. The date of the sale will generally be within 10 days of the last published NOITS.

If it goes to sale and is sold, there is no right of redemption. If I was you I'd google, (MY STATE) foreclosure laws. Substitute the name of your state for MY STATE and you should be taken to sites with the law of your state explained.

As for the 1 month behind. In order for the lender to protect its legal rights, it must tell you that foreclosure is an option they will pursue should you not pay. From my experinece as a foreclosure consultant, I have seen lenders let the delinquencies run as long as 18 months and as short as 3 months. In other words, they let one lady not make a payment for a year and a half before they started foreclosure proceedings while starting foreclosure proceedings against another homeowner after only three months.

The difference in time is the lender. All lenders have a timeline they use as a guideline before they file. If I knew your lender, I could probably give you a guesstimate.

Anyway, start doing some research now.

In the fine print of your mortgage documents, you'll see that the bank has the right to call up the total amount of its debt at any time without reason UNLESS there has been an effort made by the borrower to repay the sum in a timely manner.

Now... I know you're one payment behind. Is there any way you can make even a partial payment to the bank NOW? This will stall their foreclosure efforts a little while, but not forever.

Just keep making any payments you can until you can catch it up.

Try and stay in compliance as best as you can. Hopefully, that can lead to the bank taking more humane steps to deal with your situation

Honestly they are trying to intimidate you, the last thing that they want to do it foreclose on our home. That in itself is going to cause them moer money that they really want. It's going to take more than one payment for them to actually want to take action.

I thought you had to be several months behind before the lender could foreclose. Otherwise, there would be a lot of homeless people out there.

According to the documents you sign at closing, the lender is allowed to foreclose immediately upon your first missed payment. Let's say your payments are due on the first of the month but aren't considered late until the fifteenth of the month. This is called a grace period and can be found in your documents by the way.

Let's also say you don't make the payment. The lender can begin the process on the 16th day. The process starts w/them giving you notice and a time frame in which to make up the missed payment plus interest and fees and telling you that if you don't pay they can foreclose.

While that isn't the official start of the foreclosure process, it can be considered the starting point. They have complied with the law and given you a demand to pay and notice of their intent. You still don't pay and all you've missed is one payment.

Once you don't pay after receiving this notice they can file a Notice of Default. This officially starts the foreclosure process. They do not have to wait any longer than the time period stated in the notice they mailed you.

Foreclosure is governed by state law. If you want to know how it works in your state, do a search for your state like I said in the above post.

So, now I have a default notice along with a demand for partial payment by the 30th of April even though my forbearance stated I had until the 10th. Mind you, only one payment behind.

From what you and I have talked about in the past, it doesn't sound like a Notice of Default. Look it over again and I bet it is simply a Notice. A Notice and a Notice of Default are 2 different documents. One tells you the future plans that may or may not happen while the other states the plan, foreclosure, that is happening.

It actually states........our records show your loan is in default. Please pay (amount) by the 30th to prevent acceleration of your loan. Unless payments on your loan are brought current by the 20th of May it will become necessary to accelerate your mortgage note. It says if funds are not received they will proceed with acceleration. The forbearance I got a few weeks ago gave me until the 10th. This has two dates and two amounts so it's a little confusing.