Foreclosure sale date set in Idaho: what you can still do

Options still open before a sale in Idaho

• Confirm whether the sale is still on

  Now, and again the day before the sale

  Call the trustee named on your Notice of Trustee's Sale and your servicer. Postponements are announced out loud at the time and place set for the sale, so you may not hear about one unless you ask or attend. For a primary home with a regulated lender, the trustee must mail you notice at least 14 days before holding a postponed sale.

  Idaho Code § 45-1506(8)

• Cure the default if you are still inside 115 days

  115 days after the notice of default was recorded

  Look at the recording date on the notice of default or ask the county recorder. If you are inside 115 days, you have a legal right to pay the past-due amount plus allowed costs and fees and end the foreclosure. Get the exact figure from the lender in writing and pay in a way you can prove.

  Idaho Code § 45-1506(12)

• Ask the servicer to postpone and finish your application

  Before the sale; a complete application more than 37 days before the sale gets federal protection

  Only the lender can tell the trustee to postpone. Send a short written request with your reason, such as a pending modification review, a refinance or a signed sale contract, and follow up by phone. If you returned the Idaho modification form on time and have had no written answer, say so, because the sale may not occur until the lender answers.

  Idaho Code §§ 45-1506(8), 45-1506C(3)

• Pay off the loan by selling or refinancing

  Before the sale

  If you have equity, a sale or refinance that pays the loan in full ends the foreclosure. Ask the lender for a written payoff figure and tell the trustee and servicer about your closing date when you ask for a postponement.

• File bankruptcy

  Before the sale is held

  A bankruptcy petition filed before the auction puts an automatic stay on the sale. In Idaho, a sale that could not be held because of the stay can be rescheduled only after a new notice mailed at least 30 days ahead and three weeks of publication. See a bankruptcy lawyer before filing, since the lender can ask the court to lift the stay.

  11 U.S.C. § 362(a); Idaho Code § 45-1506A

• Ask a court to stop the sale

  Before the sale

  If the trustee skipped a required step, such as the 120-day notice, the posting, the newspaper notice, or the modification notice and answer, a lawyer can ask a court for an order stopping the sale. This must happen before the auction, because after the sale notice defects do not undo a sale to a good-faith buyer.

  Idaho Code §§ 45-1506A(1), 45-1508

Common questions in Idaho