People experiencing temporary financial hardship may start to become quite anxious if they miss a mortgage payment. After all, the home where they live serves as the collateral for the mortgage, and it could be vulnerable at any point until they pay off the loan.
Most people commit a significant amount of their income toward purchasing and maintaining a home. The idea of losing a home can be frightening, as it represents a loss of invested capital and the loss of housing.
Those who have missed mortgage payments often feel anxious about the possibility of facing foreclosure in the near future. Foreclosure usually does not occur after a single missed mortgage payment. When does foreclosure become a possibility?
Borrowers must miss months of payments
The terms of every mortgage are different, but most of them follow the same basic standards. Typically, foreclosure only becomes a possibility when a property owner has already missed four consecutive payments.
In other words, the homeowner must be 120 days or more behind on mortgage payments. Missing one payment, then making the payment and several more and then missing another payment does not put a homeowner at risk of foreclosure.
They have to continue to fail to pay for at least four months in most cases. Sometimes, lenders make mistakes in their internal records and initiate foreclosure proceedings at an inappropriate point. Property owners may be able to defend against foreclosure attempts in such scenarios.
Reviewing financial records with a skilled legal team can help people determine if technical violations could play a part in their foreclosure defense strategy. Those who understand the rules that govern foreclosure can use that knowledge to fight to protect one of their most valuable assets.