Ways to avoid foreclosure
Your options, from catching up to leaving on your own terms
A foreclosure is the last step, not the first. Before it, your mortgage servicer has to review you for the options your loan allows, if you ask in time. Here is what each one is, who it fits, and what it costs you.
Repayment plan
You keep paying your normal mortgage payment and add an extra amount each month until the missed payments are paid back.
How it worksForbearance
Your servicer agrees to accept reduced payments, or none, for a limited time. The missed amount is still owed and has to be dealt with when the pause ends.
How it worksPayment deferral or partial claim
The missed payments are set aside as a balance with no interest and no monthly payment. It comes due when you sell, refinance or pay off the mortgage.
How it worksLoan modification
Your servicer permanently changes the loan, usually by adding the missed payments to the balance and stretching the term or lowering the rate, so the payment is affordable.
How it worksReinstatement
You pay all the missed payments, late fees and foreclosure costs in one payment. The loan goes back to normal and the foreclosure ends.
How it worksShort sale
You sell the home for less than the mortgage balance and the lender agrees to take the sale price. It avoids a foreclosure sale when keeping the home is not possible.
How it worksDeed in lieu of foreclosure
You sign the home over to the lender and the lender cancels the foreclosure. It is usually considered after a short sale has not worked or is not practical.
How it worksChapter 13 bankruptcy
Filing puts an automatic stay on the foreclosure. A Chapter 13 plan then lets you pay back the missed payments over three to five years while making your regular payment.
How it works
Free, official, nationwide
Free help applying for these options
HUD-approved housing counselors
Free foreclosure prevention counseling from agencies approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A counselor can review your budget and deal with your servicer alongside you.
(800) 569-4287CFPB: help for struggling homeowners
Plain-language guides from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and a complaint form if your mortgage servicer is not following the rules.
Legal Services Corporation: find legal aid
Find the free civil legal aid office for your county if you have been served with a foreclosure lawsuit or given a sale date and cannot afford a lawyer.
Ask a question
Not sure what to do next? Ask.
Tell us where things stand. A person reads every message and writes back with the options that fit your situation and the free, official help available in your state.
- Free. There is nothing to buy and no fee, ever.
- No loan number, Social Security number or documents needed.
- We are not your lender, a law firm or a government agency.
If a sale is days away, do not wait for an email. Call a free HUD-approved housing counselor now at (800) 569-4287.