Top 10 Ways To Delay Foreclosure
Whether you want to come up with a way to save your home or you simply want to stay in your house for as long as possible when you save money, there may be several ways you can delay foreclosure. Read on for the top 10 ways to delay foreclosure.
- Communicate with your lender early and often: Lenders will be quicker to foreclose if they don’t believe you are going to make an effort to try to get things back on track. On the other hand, if your lender believes you really want to get current on your payments or that you will be able to do so, they may be more willing to work with you and slower to move you through the foreclosure process.
- Show you are making a good faith effort: If you are having a temporary setback or you really believe you can find some way to keep the home, show you are making an effort. Send partial payments if you can or propose concrete solutions to your lender such as renegotiation that you have researched.
- Ask what it will take to stall foreclosure: Lenders may have programs in place designed to help homeowners. These types of programs have been facilitated by government subsidies as part of the 2009 economic bailout plan that provides help for homeowners. Ask what your lender can do and they can give you information about any programs they have to help homeowners.
- Begin negotiations or refinancing efforts: The foreclosure process may be stalled as you work with your lender to renegotiate or refinance your loan under one of the programs available.
- Request to see the note or other documents: Under debt collection laws, the bank has to prove you owe the debt by producing the original mortgage note. It may take them some time to find it, buying you more time to come up with the cash you need to avoid foreclosure.
- Contest the foreclosure every step of the way: There are multiple legal steps throughout the foreclosure process in some states. You may be able to legally contest various steps throughout the process, depending on the laws in your state. This too can slow the process down and buy you more time.
- Reply within the maximum time limits: Although you want to do everything you can to delay the foreclosure, not responding to court documents or notices from the bank within the required time frame can backfire and cause the process to move more quickly. However, if you have 30 days to reply, you should wait until the very end of that time period- again, buying you more time.
- Consider bankruptcy: Chapter 13 bankruptcy can stall the foreclosure process and put a stop to it entirely if you can come up with the payments to become current.
- Get help from a foreclosure attorney: A foreclosure attorney may know of other ways within your state that you can delay the foreclosure or stop the foreclosure.
- Get help from other sources of aid: Foreclosure avoidance counselors, local and state agencies, and programs such as Hope Now and Hope for Homeowners may be able to help. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides a list of such resources here.