Timeline & Rights

From the date you are served, in addition to any legal defense to the foreclosure, you have the following rights.


Reinstatement

You have 90 days from the date you are served to reinstate the loan, that is, to bring your loan current and pay off what you owe (past due payments, late fees, costs and fees paid by the lender to foreclose, and other allowable expenses).

In most cases, lenders will voluntarily allow you to reinstate even beyond this 90-day period, up until the end of the redemption period. It is important to realize, though, that reinstatement after the initial 90-day period is at the discretion of the lender.

Redemption

Subject to a few limited exceptions, you have 7 months from the date you are served to pay off your loan in full, either by refinancing the loan or by selling the house or by other means. This is called your right to redeem, and the 7-month period is called the redemption period.

Sometimes you can have longer. The redemption period also runs for 3 months after a foreclosure judgment is entered, so, depending on when a judgment is entered, the redemption period can run longer than 7 months from service.

Once the redemption period expires, the lender will hold a foreclosure sale at which it and others can bid for the sale of the property.

You have no control over the house once it goes to sale. You can only refinance, sell the house, or file bankruptcy before the house is sold at the foreclosure sale.


Helpful Resources

Here is a flowchart providing information for Timeline on Mortgage Foreclosure