You have been paying your mortgage for years, and you always make the payments. But then you miss one, perhaps because of an oversight or maybe because you genuinely do not have the funds that month. Suddenly, you are worried that your lender is going to foreclose on your home because of that missed payment.
The good news is that one missed payment typically does not start the foreclosure process. In fact, you may be given a grace period of around 15 days. After the payment becomes 30 days late, your mortgage lender will likely send you notices, both that you need to make the payment and that they are going to report it to national credit bureaus.
The pre-foreclosure process
But even being a month late does not mean that they are going to start the foreclosure process. It generally takes 90 days, or three consecutive missed payments, for your lender to even start the pre-foreclosure process. This is when you will get more notifications and communications from them telling you that your account is delinquent and you need to get caught up on these payments.
Once you reach 120 days late, or four months, that is usually when the lender starts the actual foreclosure process by putting a lien on your property. This is when you will begin getting notices that you need to vacate. The lender is going to reclaim that property because you have defaulted on your loan.
So, while it is important to get current if you have missed a mortgage payment, the foreclosure process will not start instantly. It usually takes three missed payments before the lender begins moving in that direction. That said, if you believe you will not be able to make payments in the future and foreclosure may be coming, it is important to know what legal options you have.