How to avoid foreclosure in Massachusetts

How foreclosure works in Massachusetts, step by step

1. Missed payments and the 90-day right to cure notice

   The lender must send a written notice giving you at least 90 days to catch up on the missed payments before it can call the whole loan due. Federal rules also generally bar starting a foreclosure until you are more than 120 days behind. Use this time to apply for a loan modification.

   M.G.L. c. 244, § 35A; 12 C.F.R. § 1024.41(f)

2. Notice of your right to ask for a modified loan

   For certain higher-risk loans, the lender must make a good faith effort to avoid foreclosure before it can advertise a sale. You may get a Right to Request a Modified Mortgage Loan notice. Read it, fill in the election form and send it back by the due date.

   M.G.L. c. 244, § 35B

3. The Servicemembers case in Land Court

   Before foreclosing, the lender usually files a Servicemembers case in the Land Court or Superior Court. It decides one thing: whether you have military protections under federal law. It is not a chance to argue the foreclosure itself, but do answer it if you or a co-owner are in the military.

   Servicemembers Civil Relief Act; Mass. Land Court

4. Notice of sale

   The lender must publish a notice of sale in a local newspaper once a week for three weeks, with the first notice at least 21 days before the sale. It must also send you the notice by registered mail at least 14 days before the sale.

   M.G.L. c. 244, § 14

5. The foreclosure auction

   The home is sold at public auction to the highest bidder. If the lender wants to hold you liable for any shortfall, it must have mailed you a notice of intent to foreclose and of deficiency at least 21 days before the sale.

   M.G.L. c. 244, §§ 14, 17B

6. After the sale

   A sale under the power of sale ends your right to redeem. The lender must send you a written, itemized accounting of the sale money, including any surplus owed to you, within 60 days of receiving the funds. The new owner must use the court eviction process to remove you, so get legal help if you are still in the home.

   M.G.L. c. 244, § 18; M.G.L. c. 183, § 27

Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts

Other Massachusetts protections

• 90-day right to cure

  The lender cannot speed up the loan or foreclose until at least 90 days after a written default notice that tells you the amount to cure, the deadline, and who to contact if you dispute the default.

  M.G.L. c. 244, § 35A

• Good faith effort to avoid foreclosure on certain loans

  For loans with risky features, such as interest-only payments or short teaser rates, the lender cannot publish a sale notice until it has compared the value of a modified loan with what it expects to recover from a foreclosure.

  M.G.L. c. 244, § 35B

• The foreclosing party must hold the note

  A lender may not publish a foreclosure notice when it knows or should know that it is not the holder of the mortgage note or the note holder's authorized agent. It must record an affidavit of compliance at the registry of deeds first.

  M.G.L. c. 244, § 35C

• Division of Banks request for a delay

  If an auction is set within the next seven days, the Division of Banks can make a one-time request asking your servicer for a 30 to 60 day stay. The servicer does not have to agree.

• Itemized accounting after the sale

  The lender must send you a written breakdown of the sale price, legal fees, auctioneer fees and other costs, and any surplus due to you.

  M.G.L. c. 183, § 27

Massachusetts mortgage assistance programs

If the home is sold for more than you owe

The lender keeps what it is owed plus its costs and must turn over any surplus to you or your heirs, unless the mortgage says otherwise. It must also send you a written, itemized accounting of the sale proceeds, including any surplus, within 60 days after it receives the money. If the accounting does not arrive, ask for it in writing.

M.G.L. c. 183, § 27

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 Massachusetts 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