First, today
- Call a free HUD-approved housing counselor at (800) 569-4287 and say a sale date is set.
- Call legal aid in your state, or a foreclosure lawyer. See your state's page for legal aid and lawyers by city.
- Confirm the date. The notice of sale names who is running the sale (a trustee, sheriff or court officer) and how to check whether it is still on. Sales are often postponed, sometimes at the last minute.
If the sale is more than 37 days away: send a complete application
If your servicer receives a complete loss mitigation application more than 37 days before the sale, federal rules say it must review you for every option within 30 days, and it may not hold the sale while the review, any appeal and your time to accept are running. You get at least 7 days to accept an offer if the application arrived fewer than 90 days before the sale.
Count the days from when the servicer receives the application, not from when you mail it. The deadline calculator works out your date. If you are close to the 37-day line, deliver it in a way you can prove and ask the servicer to confirm in writing that it is complete. An application that arrives 37 days or fewer before the sale does not get this protection, though you can and should still ask.
Catch up: reinstatement
Paying everything you are behind on, plus fees and costs, stops the foreclosure. Many states give you a legal right to reinstate until a set time before the sale. Ask your servicer for a written reinstatement quote now, and check your state's page for the deadline. See reinstatement.
Chapter 13 bankruptcy: before the sale happens
Filing a bankruptcy case stops a foreclosure sale right away under the automatic stay. Chapter 13 lets you catch up on missed payments over a three to five year plan while you keep making your regular payment. You can only use it to save the home until the sale is held under state law, so it has to be filed before the sale.
The stay may be shorter or may not start at all if you had a bankruptcy case dismissed in the past year, and the lender can ask the court to lift it. Talk to a bankruptcy lawyer before filing. See Chapter 13.
Ask for a postponement, and offer a way out
You can ask your servicer to postpone the sale while you finish an application, close a sale of the home, or finish a short sale or deed in lieu. The servicer does not have to agree, so get any yes in writing and confirm the new date with whoever is running the sale.
If you are in the military, or were in the past year
If your mortgage was taken out before your military service, a foreclosure sale during your service or within one year after it is not valid without a court order, unless you signed a written waiver. Tell your servicer and the trustee or court in writing, and contact your installation's legal assistance office.
How much time do you have? It depends on your state.
See the foreclosure timeline, deadlines and free local help for the state where the home is.
Common questions
Can a sale be stopped the day before?
Sometimes. A bankruptcy filing before the sale stops it, a full payoff or reinstatement where your state allows it stops it, and a servicer or court can postpone it. But a late application usually does not force a delay, and companies that promise to stop a sale for a fee are a known scam. Call a lawyer or legal aid the same day.
What happens if the sale goes through?
It depends on your state: some let you buy the home back for a period after the sale, some limit what the lender can still collect, and you may be owed any money left over after the debt is paid. See your state's after-the-sale page from your state's page.
Keep reading
- What to do firstThe earlier you act, the more options you have. These are the first six things to do, in order, whether you are about to miss a payment or are already a few months behind.
- Avoid foreclosure rescue scamsPeople facing foreclosure are a target. Federal law bans most upfront fees for mortgage relief, so any company that asks to be paid before you have an offer from your servicer is breaking the rules.
- Your federal rightsFederal rules (Regulation X) set the floor in every state. They do not force your servicer to approve any option, but they control when it can start a foreclosure and how it must handle your application.
- Help by loan typeYour servicer collects the payments, but the rules for what it can offer you come from whoever owns or insures the loan. Find that out first.
- Taxes after foreclosureThe IRS treats a foreclosure as a sale, and forgiven debt is usually income. The main home exclusion many people relied on has expired for most 2026 cases, but insolvency and bankruptcy exclusions still apply.