Understanding Your Foreclosure Rights

Figuring out your foreclosure rights can be tricky, especially because every state has different laws that govern how foreclosure works in that state. There are no hard and fast rules that apply to every person in every situation but there are some things that you should look for.

Foreclosure timelines. This is one of those things that varies widely by state. In some information, it lists some states with a foreclosure process period of only 27 days and some with a process period of up to 300 days. With this kind of wide variance among states, this is a critical piece of your foreclosure rights that you need to understand. To be sure of what your foreclosure timeline will be, check with your county’s office.

Another piece of the foreclosure timeline that you need to understand is the redemption period. The redemption period is essentially the amount of time after your home has been sold at auction that you have to come up with all of the money that you owe your mortgage company. Some states do not have a redemption period at all and one state is reported to have a redemption period of 1825 days. This is an important piece of your foreclosure rights to know because it may allow you to save your home even after it has been sold at auction. Again, your county’s office is a good resource to find out whether or not you will have a right of redemption.

Find out if you have a right to cure the loan and what that procedure is. A right to cure is essentially the right to come up with all back payments, late fees, attorney fees, court fees and any other fees for your loan. I can only speak from experience here but I had a right to cure on my home. I had to file some very basic paperwork with the public trustee’s office where the deed of trust for my home was filed. This paperwork had to be filed with them at least 15 calendar days before the scheduled sale date. It gave me until noon on the day before the sale date to come to the public trustee’s office with a cashier’s check for the full amount to cure the loan. This is an important part of your foreclosure rights that you need to fully understand.