Learning the Mortgage Foreclosure Process Can Be Helpful

Mortgage foreclosures are taking place at an epidemic pace all throughout the United States. They’re also happening to families and individuals of all income levels. A foreclosure or the prospect of a mortgage foreclosure is not something to be taken lightly. There are ways you can avoid a foreclosure, but first homeowners need to know what a foreclosure is, why it can happen and what the entire mortgage foreclosure process consists of. Once they realize these important factors, they can often prevent a mortgage foreclosure from happening.

When you purchase a home, unless you can pay cash, you’ll take out a home mortgage from a bank or other lending institutions. When you sign the loan documents, you are promising your home to the bank as collateral. Your loan documents will specify a payment amount you need to make each month until the loan is paid in full, a payment that includes principal and interest. If you fail to make these payments as promised, the bank can legally repossess your home. This is when the mortgage foreclosure process begins, a process that can be devastating emotionally, personally and financially.

Although the rules regarding foreclosure may vary from state to state, the one thing that is similar in all states is that it’s a legal process. It isn’t something that happens overnight, however, and in many cases, can be prevented. If it’s corrected in the early stages, the mortgage foreclosure process can be stopped. Usually the only way it can be stopped is to pay the amount on the loan that is delinquent plus any late charges or fees that have accumulated.

When you signed your loan documents, part of the fine print stated that if you did not make your payments on time, you would pay a late charge. Sometimes a bank will send out an official letter or call you if you’ve missed one payment. Other times, they may not do this until you’ve missed two payments. Some financial institutions will begin filing foreclosure papers at this time, while others will until 3 consecutive payments have been missed. During this time, you have from 1 to 3 months to save your home from being repossessed.

As soon as you begin having difficulties making your payments, contact your lender. Lenders are usually willing to help because when they repossess a home, they seldom get back what they borrowed, so they want to help you keep your home.

Although this varies in different states, most homeowners that have missed three payments have less than 30 days to correct things or they’ll be evicted from their home. This is not the bank being the “bad guy”, but just part of the mortgage foreclosure process. Once this process begins, the bank will post notices that your home will be up for auction. This is to get a lot of bidders. Anyone can come to the auction and bid on your home. The highest bidder will get your home.

The entire mortgage foreclosure process only takes around 90 to 120 days so make every attempt to get some help in paying your loan, whether refinancing or consolidating debts.