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Minnesota · What this letter means

Minnesota foreclosure letters and notices

The papers Minnesota homeowners receive, in the order they usually arrive. Each page uses the name on the Minnesota document, explains the deadline it starts under Minnesota law, and lists what to do this week.

  1. Step 1

    Preforeclosure Notice: Foreclosure Prevention Counseling

    In Minnesota, before a foreclosure is recorded on the home you live in, the lender must send this notice on colored paper. It names a free, government-approved counseling agency that the lender has already given your contact details to. No sale date is set yet, so this is the time to get help and apply for a workout.

    What it means
  2. Step 2

    Notice of Mortgage Foreclosure Sale

    This is the notice that sets the date of the sheriff's sale in a Minnesota foreclosure by advertisement. It is published for six weeks and handed to whoever lives in the home at least four weeks before the sale. The move-out date it lists is the end of the redemption period after the sale, not a date to leave before the sale.

    What it means
  3. Step 3

    Help For Homeowners in Foreclosure and What Happens After the Foreclosure Sale

    These two colored pages come with the Minnesota notice of sale on an owner-occupied home. The first, Help For Homeowners in Foreclosure, gives the amount to catch up as of a set date and the sale date. The second, What Happens After the Foreclosure Sale, explains your right to redeem and warns about scams.

    What it means
  4. Step 4

    Summons and complaint to reduce the redemption period to five weeks (abandoned property)

    Minnesota lets the foreclosing lender, the holder of the sheriff's certificate, or the city or county ask a court to cut your redemption period to five weeks by claiming the home is abandoned. If no one shows up to oppose it and there is evidence, the court enters the order. If you still live there or plan to redeem, go to the hearing.

    What it means
  5. Step 5

    Sheriff's Certificate of Sale

    At a Minnesota sheriff's sale, the sheriff gives the buyer a certificate of sale. It does not take your home right away. It lists the price paid, the interest rate and your redemption period, and only becomes the buyer's title if no one redeems. If the sale brought in $100 or more over what was owed, the sheriff also mails you a surplus notice.

    What it means
  6. Step 6

    Eviction summons and complaint after the redemption period

    If no one redeems and you are still in the home after the redemption period, the buyer can file an eviction case in district court. The summons sets a hearing 7 to 14 days after it is issued. Only a court order can make you leave, and you can answer at that first hearing.

    What it means

Got a letter not listed here? See every foreclosure letter explained, or how foreclosure works in Minnesota.