How to avoid foreclosure in Idaho

How foreclosure works in Idaho, step by step

1. You fall behind on payments

   Your servicer generally cannot start a foreclosure until you are more than 120 days behind under federal rules. Use this time to call your servicer, ask about loss mitigation, and talk with a HUD-approved housing counselor.

   12 C.F.R. § 1024.41(f)

2. Notice of default is recorded and mailed

   The trustee or lender records a notice of default with the county recorder. It says what you failed to do and that they have chosen to sell the property. A copy is mailed to you with a one-page warning about foreclosure rescue offers.

   Idaho Code § 45-1505

3. Loan modification notice and request form

   If the home has a homeowner's property tax exemption for that year and the lender is state or federally regulated, the notice of default must come with a notice of your chance to ask for a loan modification and a request form. The lender must receive your completed form by the date on the notice, which is 30 days after the notice date. Send it by certified mail, return receipt requested.

   Idaho Code § 45-1506C

4. Notice of trustee's sale

   After the notice of default is recorded, the trustee must mail you a notice of sale by registered or certified mail at least 120 days before the sale date. The notice is also posted on the property or served on an adult living there, and published in a newspaper once a week for four weeks, with the last publication at least 30 days before the sale.

   Idaho Code § 45-1506(2), (5), (6)

5. Your window to cure the default

   Within 115 days after the notice of default is recorded, you can stop the sale by paying everything that is past due, plus the costs, trustee's fees and attorney's fees the law allows. You do not have to pay the full loan balance. If you pay in time, the foreclosure must be dropped and the loan goes on as before.

   Idaho Code § 45-1506(12)

6. Trustee's sale (auction)

   The trustee sells the home to the highest bidder at the time and place in the notice, between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. The sale can be postponed for up to 30 days at a time. The sale ends your ownership, and you have no right to buy the home back afterward.

   Idaho Code §§ 45-1506(8), 45-1508

7. Possession and eviction

   The buyer is entitled to possession on the 10th day after the sale. If you are still in the home after that, the buyer can file a fast court case to remove you. The court sets a trial within 12 days of the filing, and you must be served at least 5 days before the trial.

   Idaho Code §§ 45-1506(11), 6-310

Idaho foreclosure deadlines to know

These are the periods written into the law. Your own dates are on the notices you received. If a notice and this page disagree, trust the notice and ask a counselor or lawyer.

Your rights as a homeowner in Idaho

Other Idaho protections

• Chance to ask for a loan modification

  For a primary home with a homeowner's property tax exemption, the notice of default must include a warning notice in large type and a loan modification request form. If you return the form on time, the lender must review it and answer in writing within 45 days, and the trustee's sale cannot happen until the lender has answered on time. The law requires a review and an answer, not an approval.

  Idaho Code § 45-1506C

• Right to a meeting with the lender

  If you ask for a meeting when you return the form, the lender or its agent must meet with you in person or speak with you by phone before deciding. You must schedule and attend the meeting within 7 business days after the lender tries to contact you, or the lender can move on without it.

  Idaho Code § 45-1506C(4)

• Rescue scam warning with the notice of default

  The notice of default mailed to you must come with a separate page, in bold type, warning you to be careful about anyone who says they can save your home and telling you about your 5 day right to cancel certain contracts.

  Idaho Code § 45-1505(3)

• New notice before a postponed sale

  A sale can be postponed for no more than 30 days at a time. For a primary home with a regulated lender, the trustee must mail a new notice at least 14 days before holding a sale that was postponed.

  Idaho Code § 45-1506(8)

• Belongings left in the home

  If the buyer finds the home empty on or after the 10th day following the sale, it can move ordinary personal property into storage but must give 90 days' written notice, by mail and by posting on the home, before getting rid of it.

  Idaho Code § 45-1506(15)

Idaho mortgage assistance programs

If the home is sold for more than you owe

The trustee must pay out the sale money in a set order: first the costs of the sale, including reasonable trustee's and attorney's fees, then the loan that was foreclosed, then other recorded liens that came after the deed of trust. Anything left over belongs to you as the borrower, or to whoever took over your interest in the home. The statute does not set out a claim form or a deadline, so contact the trustee named in your notice of sale in writing, give a current mailing address, and ask whether there was a surplus.

Idaho Code § 45-1507

Ways to avoid foreclosure

Most of your options come from federal rules and from whoever owns or insures your loan, so they work the same way in Idaho as anywhere else. What changes by state is how much time you have to use them.

• Repayment plan
• Forbearance
• Payment deferral or partial claim
• Loan modification
• Reinstatement
• Short sale
• Deed in lieu of foreclosure
• Chapter 13 bankruptcy