What to Do When You Receive a Foreclosure Summons
If you fall behind in your mortgage, you may receive a foreclosure summons from your lender, which informs you that your lender has filed a lawsuit to take your house. If you ignore the summons, you have no opportunity to defend yourself in court, and the lender may win by default.
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Process
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When someone files a lawsuit, they have to notify you before the suit can proceed. In a foreclosure case, according to the Bronx Law Guide website, your lender sends an individual to "serve" you with the summons setting the court date and the complaint spelling out the reason for the suit. The summons tells you the deadline for filing an answer with the court that states your intent to fight the foreclosure. If you don't file, you can't participate in the hearing.
Alternatives
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Even after receiving the summons, you may have alternatives to going to court. If you can find a way to make up your delinquent mortgage payments or negotiate a deal with your lender, that ends the case before it starts. Until the end of 2012, you can also apply for the federal Home Affordable Modification Program; if you qualify, the government offers financial incentives to your lender to modify your mortgage. The foreclosure has to wait until after your lender and the government evaluate your application.
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Defenses
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If you decide to fight, you need to prepare your court case. Common defenses include that the lender didn't follow state foreclosure procedure; the lender violated federal law, perhaps by not disclosing the terms of the mortgage; the lender made an error such as crediting your payments to someone else; or the lender can't produce any paperwork proving that the company owns the mortgage.
Warning
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In states that allow nonjudicial foreclosure, you won't receive a summons. In these states, lenders can foreclose without going to court, so the first notice you get may be a letter informing you the foreclosure sale will take place in a couple of weeks. If you want to fight the foreclosure, you can do so, but in these cases it's up to you to file the lawsuit challenging the foreclosure, then serve the lender. The RealtyTrac website identifies which states use judicial procedures, which use nonjudicial procedures and which allow lenders to use whichever procedure they prefer.
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