Skip to main content
How to avoidForeclosure
Get help

Hawaii · Get help now

How to claim foreclosure surplus funds in Hawaii

After a Hawaii mortgage foreclosure sale, the money pays the foreclosing lender and then other lienholders in order of priority, and anything left belongs to the owner. In a court foreclosure the court directs how the commissioner pays out the money, and in a power of sale foreclosure the lender must pay the remaining surplus to the borrower. Hawaii has no special surplus claim form, so stay in touch with the court or lender and keep your address current.

Free HUD counselor: (800) 569-4287

Reviewed against Hawaii law and official sources on October 11, 2026. General information, not legal advice.

Ask for help in Hawaii

Free. A person replies with the options and official help that fit. Messages about a scheduled sale are answered first.

For example: a sale date, what your servicer has told you, or what changed in your income. Please do not include your loan number, Social Security number or bank details.

Free, and there is nothing to buy. A person reads your message and replies by email, or by phone if you leave a number. We never ask for a fee and we do not sell your details. See the privacy policy.

How to claim surplus funds in Hawaii

  1. Who is paid first

    Lienholders are paid by priority, not shared equally. After the foreclosed mortgage, surplus goes to the next junior mortgage or lien, and so on down the line.

    HRS § 667-3

  2. Court foreclosure: ask at the confirmation hearing

    At the hearing where the court approves the sale

    In a court foreclosure, the remainder after claims and expenses is paid to the owner, and the court directs the commissioner's payments. Make sure the court and commissioner have your address and ask about any surplus at the confirmation hearing.

    HRS § 667-10

  3. Power of sale: the lender pays you

    After the buyer pays and the deed is signed

    In a nonjudicial power of sale foreclosure, the foreclosing lender pays prior liens, its fees and costs and its own debt, then junior lienholders by priority. Any remaining surplus must be paid to the mortgagor. Ask the lender's attorney in writing for an accounting.

    HRS § 667-31

  4. If no one claims it

    1 year after the money can be paid out

    Money held by a court or government agency is presumed abandoned 1 year after it becomes distributable and is sent to the state's unclaimed property program at the Department of Budget and Finance. You can search for it and claim it there.

    HRS § 523A-3

  5. Limits on recovery fee deals

    Void from when the money is presumed abandoned until 24 months after the state receives it

    A deal to locate or recover unclaimed money is void if made in that period, and it must be in writing and show the value before and after the fee. A fee above 25% cannot be enforced against you, and you can sue to cut it to 25%. Be careful: you can claim for free.

    HRS § 523A-25

  6. Surplus after a tax sale

    Money left after a county property tax sale follows county rules and deadlines. See our Hawaii property tax foreclosure page.

    MCC § 3.48.285

What Hawaii law says about leftover sale money

Surplus after a mortgage foreclosure sale

Sale money is paid first to the foreclosing lender and other lienholders in order of priority. Anything left over belongs to the owner. In a court foreclosure, the court tells the commissioner whom to pay, so make sure the court and the commissioner have your current address and ask about any surplus at the hearing where the sale is approved. In a power of sale foreclosure, the lender pays out the money and must give any remaining surplus to the borrower.

HRS §§ 667-3, 667-10, 667-31

Common questions in Hawaii

Who decides who gets the surplus in a Hawaii court foreclosure?

The court does. The commissioner who runs the sale pays out the money as the court directs, by lien priority, and the owner gets what is left. If you think a lien listed ahead of you is wrong, raise it with the court before the money is paid out.

When does Hawaii foreclosure surplus become unclaimed property?

Money held by a court or government agency is presumed abandoned 1 year after it becomes distributable. It is then turned over to the state's unclaimed property program, where you can still claim it.

Can a company charge me to collect my Hawaii foreclosure surplus?

For money held as unclaimed property, Hawaii law makes fees above 25% unenforceable against you and voids deals made too soon after the money is turned over. You never need to pay anyone to file your own claim.

Step by step

More on foreclosure in Hawaii

Understand the process

What is happening and how much time there is.

Weigh your options

What can stop it, and what happens if it goes ahead.

Get help now

Who to call, and what to do when a sale is scheduled.

Also in Hawaii

Property tax foreclosure Claim surplus funds (this page)

Back to the Hawaii overview

Free, official, nationwide

Free help anywhere in the country

Sources for this page

  1. HRS chapter 246 (real property tax law, repealed 2016)
  2. County of Maui: Real Property Tax, Tax Sale FAQs
  3. County of Kauai: Proposed Foreclosure Sale of Real Property (tax sale instructions)
  4. City and County of Honolulu: Notice of Proposed Sale of Real Property (April 2026), Star-Advertiser legal notices
  5. Hawaii County Office of the County Auditor: Real Property Tax Division Revenue Cycle Management audit (2021)
  6. HRS § 523A-3 (presumptions of abandonment)
  7. HRS § 523A-25 (agreement to locate property)
  8. Hawaii Department of Budget and Finance: Unclaimed Property
  9. HRS Chapter 667, Foreclosures (current table of contents)
  10. HRS § 667-1 (definitions, including owner-occupant)
  11. HRS § 667-1.5 (foreclosure by action)
  12. HRS § 667-3 (proceeds, how applied)
  13. HRS § 667-10 (surplus after sale)
  14. HRS § 667-17 (attorney affirmation in judicial foreclosure)
  15. HRS § 667-20 (publication of notice of public sale in a foreclosure by action)
  16. HRS § 667-22 (notice of default and intention to foreclose)
  17. HRS § 667-24 (cure of default)
  18. HRS § 667-25 (date and place of public sale)
  19. HRS § 667-27 (public notice of public sale, cure up to three business days before sale)
  20. HRS § 667-29.5 (eligible bidder, subsequent bid; added 2025)
  21. HRS § 667-31 (distribution of sale proceeds in power of sale foreclosure)
  22. HRS § 667-33 (recordation of affidavit and conveyance; possession)
  23. HRS § 667-38 (deficiency judgment against owner-occupant prohibited)
  24. HRS § 667-41 (public information notice describing both foreclosure types)
  25. HRS § 667-53 (conversion to judicial foreclosure)
  26. HRS § 667-55 (required statement on conversion and deficiency)
  27. HRS § 667-56 (prohibited conduct)
  28. HRS § 667-59 (lender bound by agents' communications)
  29. HRS § 667-71 (dispute resolution: applicability)
  30. HRS § 667-78 (owner-occupant's election of dispute resolution; $300 fee; 30 days)
  31. HRS § 667-83 (stay of nonjudicial foreclosure during dispute resolution)
  32. HRS Chapter 480E, Mortgage Rescue Fraud Prevention Act (table of contents)
  33. HRS § 480E-10 (prohibitions for distressed property consultants)
  34. Act 105, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025 (S.B. 332), effective July 1, 2025
  35. Hawaii Rules of Civil Procedure (Rule 12(a), 20 days to answer)
  36. Hawaii State Judiciary: Mortgage Foreclosure (conversion, Third Circuit mediation pilot, legal help contacts)
  37. Hawaii State Judiciary: Judicial Foreclosure Cases and Conversion Petitions Filed (monthly counts through September 2026)
  38. H.B. 1417 (2013), legislative findings on lenders' move to judicial foreclosure
  39. DCCA: Mortgage Foreclosure Dispute Resolution (MFDR) Program and FAQs
  40. DCCA: Hawaii Foreclosure Information Center
  41. DCCA: Foreclosure Scams
  42. HHFDC: Homeowner Assistance Fund (all programs closed to new applications)
  43. U.S. Department of the Treasury: Homeowner Assistance Fund
  44. Governor of Hawaii: Thirty-Second Proclamation Relating to Wildfires (August 2026, through October 23, 2026)
  45. County of Maui Resolution 23-244 (December 2023) urging a foreclosure moratorium, noting HRS Chapter 667 had not been suspended
  46. DCCA Division of Financial Institutions: Consumer Complaint FAQs
  47. Hawaii State Bar Association: Lawyer Referral and Information Service
  48. Legal Aid Society of Hawaii: Get Help