How to avoid foreclosure in Illinois

How foreclosure works in Illinois, step by step

1. You fall behind on payments

   Your servicer generally cannot file a foreclosure case until you are more than 120 days behind under federal rules. Use this time to call your servicer, apply for loss mitigation, and talk with a free HUD-approved housing counselor. Illinois used to require a separate 30 day grace period notice before filing, but that law was repealed in 2016.

   12 C.F.R. § 1024.41(f); 735 ILCS 5/15-1502.5 (repealed)

2. Complaint and summons

   The lender files a foreclosure complaint and has you served with a summons. For a home, a Homeowner Notice in English and Spanish must be attached, listing your rights. You have 30 days after you are served to file an Appearance and Answer with the court. If you do not, the case can go ahead without you.

   735 ILCS 5/15-1504.5

3. Reinstatement period and mediation

   For 90 days after you are served, you have the right to reinstate the loan by paying what is past due plus allowed costs. This is also the time to ask whether your court has a foreclosure mediation program and to keep working with your servicer on loss mitigation.

   735 ILCS 5/15-1602; Ill. S. Ct. R. 99.1

4. Judgment of foreclosure and redemption period

   If the lender proves its case, the judge enters a judgment of foreclosure, which must state the last date to redeem. For a home, you can redeem by paying off the full judgment amount until the later of 7 months after you were served or 3 months after the judgment. You can also sell or refinance during this time.

   735 ILCS 5/15-1506, 15-1603

5. Notice of sale and judicial sale

   After the reinstatement and redemption periods end, the home is sold. The notice of sale must be published once a week for 3 weeks in a row, with the first notice no more than 45 days before the sale and the last at least 7 days before. If you filed an appearance, the notice must also be sent to you.

   735 ILCS 5/15-1507

6. Hearing to confirm the sale

   The sale is not final until a judge confirms it. Notice of this hearing must be mailed to you even if you were found in default. The judge must confirm the sale unless proper notice was not given, the sale terms were unconscionable, the sale was fraudulent, or justice was otherwise not done. The order can include a deficiency judgment and deals with any surplus.

   735 ILCS 5/15-1508

7. Possession and eviction

   The order confirming the sale gives the buyer possession starting 30 days after the order is entered. Until a judge orders otherwise, the people lawfully living in the home have the right to stay. An eviction order can be enforced only against people named in the case.

   735 ILCS 5/15-1508(g), 15-1701

Illinois 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 Illinois

Other Illinois protections

• Homeowner Notice attached to the summons

  Every home foreclosure summons must include a plain-language notice, in English and Spanish, telling you that you still own the home, can stay until a judge enters an eviction order, can reinstate within 90 days, can redeem, and can ask the court for any surplus.

  735 ILCS 5/15-1504.5

• Payoff statement within 10 business days

  If you ask in writing and include your name, the property address and the loan number, your mortgage company must give you an accurate payoff statement within 10 business days. Your first payoff statement is free.

  735 ILCS 5/15-1505.5, 15-1504.5

• Loss mitigation affidavit

  Illinois Supreme Court Rule 114 uses a sworn loss mitigation affidavit in which the lender lists the loss mitigation programs your loan is eligible for, the steps it took to follow them, and the current status. Eligible means you can be considered, not that a workout is guaranteed.

  Ill. S. Ct. R. 114

• A judge must approve the sale

  The sale is not final until a confirmation hearing, and notice of the hearing must be mailed to you. You can object, and the judge can refuse to confirm if notice was not given, the terms were unconscionable, there was fraud, or justice was otherwise not done.

  735 ILCS 5/15-1508(b), (b-5)

• You keep possession during the case

  For a home you live in, you are generally entitled to stay in possession before judgment, and the buyer's right to possession starts 30 days after the confirmation order. After the redemption period ends, the lender can ask the court to make you pay a monthly amount to stay unless you show good cause.

  735 ILCS 5/15-1701

Illinois mortgage assistance programs

If the home is sold for more than you owe

Sale money is applied in this order: sale expenses, the lender's allowed costs of holding and preparing the property, then the claims in the order the court set in the judgment or confirmation order. Anything left is a surplus. The person who ran the sale holds it and must send written notice of the amount to everyone in the case. The surplus is paid out only on a court order, so you must file a request with the court in your foreclosure case. If no one gets an order, the law says the surplus is forfeited to the State. You do not need to pay anyone to do this for you. If you are not sure whether there was a surplus, check the Report of Sale in your court file at the circuit clerk's office.

735 ILCS 5/15-1512

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 Illinois 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