The 120-day rule
Under federal mortgage-servicing rules, a servicer generally may not make the first foreclosure filing until your loan is more than 120 days delinquent. Those four months exist specifically so you can pursue alternatives — they are working time, not waiting time.
The dual-tracking ban
If you submit a complete loss-mitigation application more than 37 days before a scheduled sale, the servicer generally cannot conduct the sale — or even move for judgment — until your application is decided and appeal windows run. This is the single most practical shield in the toolkit, and it's why 'complete application, filed early, with proof' is our religion.
Your information and error-resolution rights
- Payoff and reinstatement quotes: you're entitled to accurate figures on request
- Notice of Error letters: allege a servicing error in writing and the servicer must investigate and respond on defined deadlines
- Request for Information letters: demand your payment history, the owner of your loan, and escrow accounting — answers are mandatory
- Continuity of contact: after day 45 of delinquency, you're entitled to an assigned point of contact who can actually discuss your options
- Fee scrutiny: foreclosure-related fees must be bona fide and are challengeable through the error process
Special-status protections
- Active-duty servicemembers: the SCRA restricts foreclosures during and after service periods and caps interest on pre-service debts — sales in violation can be voided
- FHA, VA, and USDA borrowers: loss-mitigation menus (partial claims, streamlined modifications) are mandatory frameworks, not favors
- Bankruptcy filers: the automatic stay halts sales instantly upon filing
- Successors (heirs, surviving spouses, divorced co-owners): you have rights to be recognized, get information, and apply for workouts on a loan you didn't originally sign
Using your rights without a law degree
Paper beats phone calls: rights attach to written, dated, provable communications. Every letter a servicer must answer creates deadlines for them and leverage for you. This is the machinery we run on every case — and if a servicer has already crossed one of these lines in yours, that violation itself becomes negotiating power. A HUD-approved housing counselor or an attorney can also assert these rights; the point is that someone should.