Rhode Island · Weigh your options

How to stop a foreclosure in Rhode Island

Your best chance to stop a Rhode Island foreclosure is early, in the required mediation conference, because there is no court case where you can answer and raise defenses. After the sale there is no right to buy the home back. The options below run from earliest to latest. None of them is guaranteed.

Ask for help in Rhode Island Free HUD counselor: (800) 569-4287

Reviewed against Rhode Island law and official sources on October 12, 2026. General information, not legal advice.

Ways to stop or delay a foreclosure in Rhode Island

Use the free mediation conference
Within 60 days after the mediation notice is mailed
Give the coordinator your income, expenses and job information, and fill out every application they ask for. The lender must send someone with power to agree to a workout. If it turns down your proposal, it must explain why in writing.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-27-9(c)(3), (f)
Get a counselor's help with your workout request
As soon as you fall behind
The RIHousing HelpCenter gives free, HUD-approved foreclosure counseling and can help you complete a loan modification or repayment plan application. RIHousing says that after mediation the lender has 14 days to respond to the workout request.
Reinstate or pay off the loan
Before the auction
Rhode Island law does not give a general right to catch up only the missed payments, but your mortgage may. Ask the servicer for written reinstatement and payoff figures. Paying off the full debt before the sale ends the foreclosure.
Check the sale notices
Before the sale, and within 1 year after the first ad for mediation claims
The certified mail notice must arrive at least 30 days before the first ad, and the ads must follow the 21-day and 7 to 14 day rules. If mediation was skipped, a foreclosure can be voided by a Superior Court case filed within 1 year of the first published notice. Show your papers to legal aid.
R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 34-27-4, 34-27-9(m), (p)
Servicemember stay
Before the sale, by written notice to the servicer or foreclosure lawyer
If you are on active duty or deployment, or finished it within the last 9 months, written notice bars the sale until 9 months after your service ends, unless a court approves it. Your notice of sale explains how to do this.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-27-4(c), (d)
File bankruptcy
Before the auction
A bankruptcy filing triggers a federal stay that stops the sale while it lasts. Make sure the foreclosure lawyer named in the notice gets proof of the filing before the sale. Talk to a bankruptcy lawyer first.

What Rhode Island law gives you

The right to catch up and stop the sale

Limited right

We did not find a Rhode Island statute that gives you a right to catch up on missed payments and stop the sale. Your mortgage contract may give you that right, so ask your servicer for a reinstatement figure in writing. You can always stop the sale by paying off the full debt before the auction, and the mediation conference is the place to ask for a workout.

Foreclosure mediation

Program available

Mediation is required before a power of sale foreclosure of a home loan. The conference is free to the homeowner and run by a mediation coordinator at a HUD-approved counseling agency chosen by the lender. The lender must make a good-faith effort to reach a workout. If it forecloses without following the law, the foreclosure is voidable. The requirement does not apply to reverse mortgages or to defaults dated on or before May 16, 2013. A lender headquartered in Rhode Island, or one that runs full-service mortgage operations only from Rhode Island offices where local staff can approve loan workouts, is treated as meeting the law without a conference if its foreclosure deed certifies compliance. The law was reenacted as § 34-27-9 on June 26, 2024, and the current text has no expiration date.

Mediation before foreclosure

A lender cannot record a foreclosure deed unless it has a certificate showing it complied with the mediation law. Skipping mediation makes the foreclosure voidable.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-27-9(m)

Certified mail notice 30 days before advertising

A foreclosure notice is not valid unless you were mailed notice of the sale by certified mail at least 30 days before the first publication.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-27-4(b)

Servicemember protections

The sale notice must explain extra rights for servicemembers on or recently off active duty, who can get a stay of the foreclosure by giving written notice before the sale.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-27-4(c), (d)

Notice to tenants

The lender must mail each tenant a notice of the scheduled sale with counseling contacts, and the notice must say it is not an eviction notice.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-27-7

The options your servicer can offer

Never pay an upfront fee to stop a foreclosure.

Once a foreclosure is public record, strangers will call, text and mail you with offers to “save your home.” Under federal law a company cannot collect a fee for mortgage relief until you have a written offer from your lender that you accept. Never sign over your deed, and never send your mortgage payment to anyone but your servicer. How to spot a foreclosure rescue scam.

Rhode Island law: Rhode Island regulates mortgage foreclosure consultants. A consultant cannot take any payment until it has fully performed every service it promised, cannot take a lien or wage assignment, cannot take a power of attorney except to inspect documents, and cannot acquire an interest in your home. The contract must be in writing, and you can cancel until midnight of the third business day after signing. (R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 5-79-3, 5-79-4)

Common questions in Rhode Island

What counts as good faith in Rhode Island foreclosure mediation?

Section 34-27-9 lists the signs. The lender sent the notice, sent someone with power to agree to a workout, and answered requests for information on time. If it rejects your proposal, it should explain why in writing and offer another option that would benefit you. You must also cooperate fully.

What if I sign a workout in Rhode Island mediation and then fall behind again?

If the coordinator issued a Certificate of Eligible Workout Agreement and you do not keep up with it, the mediation requirement does not apply to a foreclosure started within 12 months of that agreement. The lender could move to the sale notices without a new conference. Call your counselor right away if the new payment is not working.

Do Rhode Island city foreclosure mediation ordinances still apply?

Rhode Island now has one statewide process. Under § 34-27-9(n), any city or town ordinance that requires mediation before a foreclosure deed is recorded must follow the state law. Any part that does not follow it cannot be enforced.

Step by step

Free help anywhere in the country

HUD-approved housing counselors
Free foreclosure prevention counseling from agencies approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A counselor can review your budget and deal with your servicer alongside you.
(800) 569-4287
CFPB: help for struggling homeowners
Plain-language guides from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and a complaint form if your mortgage servicer is not following the rules.
Legal Services Corporation: find legal aid
Find the free civil legal aid office for your county if you have been served with a foreclosure lawsuit or given a sale date and cannot afford a lawyer.

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How to stop a foreclosure in Rhode Island

Ways to stop or delay a foreclosure in Rhode Island

Use the free mediation conference

Get a counselor's help with your workout request

Reinstate or pay off the loan

Check the sale notices

Servicemember stay

File bankruptcy

What Rhode Island law gives you

The right to catch up and stop the sale

Foreclosure mediation

Mediation before foreclosure

Certified mail notice 30 days before advertising

Servicemember protections

Notice to tenants

The options your servicer can offer

Common questions in Rhode Island

More on foreclosure in Rhode Island

Understand the process

Weigh your options

Get help now

Free help anywhere in the country

HUD-approved housing counselors

CFPB: help for struggling homeowners

Legal Services Corporation: find legal aid

Need help avoiding foreclosure in Rhode Island?

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