How to stop a foreclosure in Indiana

Ways to stop or delay a foreclosure in Indiana

• Apply to your servicer for loss mitigation

  As early as you can; a complete application more than 37 days before the sale gets federal protection

  The Indiana Attorney General's office notes that you can ask your servicer for a loss mitigation packet and apply directly at no cost. A counselor from the Indiana Foreclosure Prevention Network can help you put the application together for free.

  12 C.F.R. § 1024.41(g)

• Request a settlement conference

  Within 30 days after you are served with the complaint

  Return the request form to the court, call the court, or go in person, and send a copy to the lender's attorney. The court then orders a conference where the lender's attorney must attend and a lender representative with authority to negotiate must be available. You pay nothing for it, and the lender cannot bill its conference costs to you.

  Ind. Code §§ 32-30-10.5-8(c), 32-30-10.5-10(b), (d)

• Sign a foreclosure prevention agreement

  At or after the settlement conference, before judgment

  An agreement can be a repayment plan, a forbearance, a lower interest rate, reinstatement, a sale, or a deed in lieu. It must be in writing and signed by both sides, and the lender files it with the court within 7 business days. The case is then dismissed or put on hold for as long as you keep the agreement.

  Ind. Code §§ 32-30-10.5-4, 32-30-10.5-10(e)

• Respond to the complaint and raise defenses

  Within 20 days after service

  Filing a response keeps the lender from winning by default. Things to check with a lawyer include whether the pre-suit notice was sent at least 30 days before filing and whether the settlement conference notice was on the first page of the summons. A court cannot enter a foreclosure judgment unless the conference notice was given.

  Ind. Trial Rule 6(D)(1); Ind. Code § 32-30-10.5-9(a)

• Pay the overdue amount to the court

  Before final judgment, and only if no other installments are due

  If only missed installments are due, paying the court the overdue principal and interest plus costs before final judgment requires the complaint to be dismissed. Paying after judgment puts the judgment on hold instead. This rule may not help if your lender has called the whole loan due, so ask a lawyer how it applies to your mortgage.

  Ind. Code § 32-30-10-11

• Redeem by paying the full judgment

  Any time before the sheriff's sale

  Any owner can pay the judgment, interest and costs to the clerk, or to the sheriff once the sheriff has the judgment. The sale is then canceled and the judgment is marked satisfied.

  Ind. Code § 32-29-7-7

• Oppose a claim that the home is abandoned

  By the hearing date in the court's order, 15 to 25 days after the order

  If the lender asks the court to find your home abandoned, send written objections or appear at the hearing. If you do neither, the court will find it abandoned, which removes the 3 month wait and speeds up the sale.

  Ind. Code § 32-30-10.6-4

What Indiana law gives you

The options your servicer can offer

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

Common questions in Indiana