Facing foreclosure? Here are your options.
For most home loans, your mortgage company can't start a foreclosure until you're more than 120 days behind. Use that time. Your options fall into two groups: ways to keep your home, and ways to leave it on your terms. Each one is below, with the guide that explains it.
Mortgage companies are still making these deals. In May 2026, they completed 15,855 on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, about two for every foreclosure they started that month, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Foreclosure options that keep your home
Every one of these starts the same way: call your mortgage company, at the number on your monthly statement, and ask what help it offers. Get the answer in writing. Which options you can get depends on who backs your loan.
| Option | What it does | Fits when |
|---|---|---|
| Catch up in one payment | You pay everything you're behind, plus fees, and the loan is current again. Your state's page says how long you have. | You have the money now, from savings, family or a new job. |
| Repayment plan | What you missed is spread over a set number of months on top of your regular payment. Source CFPB | You can pay more than your old payment for a while. |
| Forbearance | A pause on payments, or smaller payments, for a set time. It doesn't erase what you owe. Source CFPB See the forbearance guide. | The trouble is short-term and you expect to recover. |
| Loan modification | A lasting change to your loan terms: more years to pay, a lower rate, or part of the balance set aside. Source CFPB See the loan modification guide. | You can't go back to your old payment. |
| Payment deferral or partial claim | What you're behind moves into a separate balance you pay when the loan ends or the home is sold. Source Fannie Mae D2-3.2-04 Source HUD Handbook 4000.1 | You can make your old payment again but can't catch up. |
| Chapter 13 bankruptcy | Filing usually pauses a foreclosure while the case lasts, with limits for repeat filers. Source 11 U.S.C. § 362 A plan lets you catch up over three to five years, until the home is sold at a foreclosure sale. Source 11 U.S.C. § 1322 See the bankruptcy guide. | You have steady income and other debts too. |
A The company that collects your monthly mortgage payments. This may not be the same company that originally gave you the loan. Learn more → is the company you send your payment to; it handles these requests, even when it doesn't own your loan.
Foreclosure options when you can't keep the home
If keeping the home isn't possible, how you leave still matters. It changes whether you owe the rest of the loan, whether you get money to move, and how long you wait for your next mortgage.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| A regular sale | If the home is worth more than you owe, the sale pays off the loan, and what's left after the costs of selling is yours. |
| Short sale | You sell for less than you owe, with your mortgage company's OK. Source CFPB See the short sale guide. |
| Deed in lieu | You sign the home over to your mortgage company instead of a foreclosure. Source CFPB See the deed in lieu guide. |
| Foreclosure | The home is sold through your state's process, and your state decides what comes after. See what happens after the sale. |
What if your foreclosure sale date is close?
Talk to a person today. A sale date is the one point where waiting costs the most.
- Call a foreclosure attorney or legal aid today.
- Call a HUD-approved housing counselor. It's free. Find one near you.
- If you've applied for help, check the date. If your complete application reached your mortgage company more than 37 days before the sale, it generally can't hold the sale while your application is under review Source Regulation X.
- Ask in writing for the sale to be postponed while your application is reviewed.
- If your application was ignored, file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
How foreclosure works, in four steps
- You fall behind. A servicer that isn't a small servicer must try to reach you, and by day 45 send a written notice about help Source Regulation X.
- The first filing. For most home loans, it can't come until you're more than 120 days behind Source Regulation X.
- The notice and the sale date. Your state sets what notice you get, and whether a court is involved.
- The sale and after. Your state decides when you have to move out and whether you can buy the home back.
See every step in detail, or how long foreclosure takes in your state.
Questions about foreclosure
What can you do instead of foreclosure?
To keep the home: a repayment plan, forbearance, a loan modification or a payment deferral. To leave it on your terms: a sale, a short sale or a deed in lieu. Which ones you can get depends on who backs your loan. See every option side by side.
Can my lender foreclose right away?
Usually not. For most home loans, your mortgage company generally can't start a foreclosure until you're more than 120 days behind, with a few exceptions. During that time, a servicer that isn't a small servicer must try to reach you and send a written notice about help by day 45.
What if I've applied for help?
If your complete application reaches your mortgage company more than 37 days before a scheduled sale, it has to review it first, and it generally can't ask for a judgment or hold the sale while your application is under review.
Does bankruptcy stop foreclosure?
Often, for a time, but not always. Filing usually puts an automatic stay in place that can pause a foreclosure while it lasts. If you had a bankruptcy case dismissed in the past year, the stay can end after 30 days or may not start at all, and the lender can ask the court to lift it. Chapter 13 lets you catch up on missed payments over three to five years if you can keep up the plan, but only until the home is sold at the foreclosure sale. See the bankruptcy guide.
Find your state's foreclosure law
Foreclosure rules come from your state: whether a court is involved, how much notice you get, and what happens after the sale. Your state's page has the law behind each one.
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Protect yourself from scams
The FTC and CFPB describe these warning signs and the rules behind them:
- Upfront fees for promised relief are a warning sign. Under FTC mortgage-assistance rules, most companies that sell mortgage help cannot charge until a homeowner accepts a written offer from the mortgage company or lender. A separate FTC rule covers debt-relief companies that sell by phone and ties fees to a completed debt arrangement. It bars a fee until at least one debt has been settled or changed, the customer agrees to the arrangement, and the customer has made a payment under it. The FTC describes a narrow exception for lawyers who give help as part of the practice of law and are licensed in the state where the client or dwelling is. The lawyer follows that state's rules for attorneys, and advance fees are placed in a client trust account before services begin under state trust-account rules.
- HUD-approved foreclosure-prevention counseling is free. HUD’s national counselor line is 800-569-4287. The CFPB counselor finder lists agencies and their services. If an organization charges for help described as free HUD counseling, the CFPB finder can verify the agency and its listed services before any payment.
- A request to sign over a deed is a warning sign. The CFPB identifies title-transfer schemes among foreclosure-relief scams. Signing over title can mean losing ownership of the home; a lawyer can explain what a proposed document would do.
- Foreclosure protections depend on timing and the loan. Regulation X generally bars the first foreclosure notice or filing on a principal-residence loan until the borrower is more than 120 days behind, subject to exceptions. A complete assistance application can delay some foreclosure steps, but that depends on when it arrives; it does not necessarily stop every step. The CFPB warns about promises to “save” a home.
Free help with foreclosure
A HUD-approved housing counselor is a free adviser, approved by the government, who can go over your options with your mortgage company. A counselor can help you look at your finances, weigh your options and make a plan Source CFPB. Find one near you. For court papers or a sale date, call legal aid or a foreclosure attorney.
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Now you know your options: ways to keep the home, ways to leave it on your terms, and what to do first if a sale date is close. Start with a call to your mortgage company, get every answer in writing, and bring in a free counselor early.
Sources
- Regulation X, 12 C.F.R. § 1024.39, early contact and the written notice, at consumerfinance.gov
- Regulation X, 12 C.F.R. § 1024.41, loss mitigation, the 120-day rule and the 37-day rule, at consumerfinance.gov
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · What is mortgage forbearance? at consumerfinance.gov
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · What is a mortgage loan modification? at consumerfinance.gov
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · What is a short sale? at consumerfinance.gov
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · What is a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure? at consumerfinance.gov
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · What a housing counselor can do, at consumerfinance.gov
- Fannie Mae Servicing Guide D2-3.2-04, payment deferral, at servicing-guide.fanniemae.com
- HUD Handbook 4000.1, FHA partial claims, at hud.gov
- 11 U.S.C. § 362, the automatic stay, at uscode.house.gov
- 11 U.S.C. § 1322, Chapter 13 plans, at uscode.house.gov
- FHFA · Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report, at fhfa.gov
We write with assistance from AI tools. Figures come from the data and sources named on this page.