A foreclosure notice contains detailed information about the borrower, the property, and the loan involved in the foreclosure. This information includes: 

·         Date that the Notice of Default or lawsuit was filed and recorded in the public records 

·         Names and addresses of the mortgagor or trustor whose loan is in default 

·         Names and addresses of the lender, trustee, or beneficiary who are foreclosing on the loan 

·         Notice of Default or case number 

·         Street address of the property 

·         Legal description of the property 

·         The land use or zoning code for the property 

·         The value of the property in the tax assessor’s records 

·         Original amount of the loan 

·         The date the original loan was made 

·         The date the last payment was made on the loan 

·         The amount of the payments that are past due 

·         The balance of the loan at the time the foreclosure action is filed 

·         The date of the public foreclosure auction or trustee’s sale 

The Notice of Default and information about the foreclosure sale is published once a week for at least three successive calendar weeks before the date of the foreclosure sale in most states. The publication chosen for this notice must have general circulation in the county or counties in which the property in question is located. 

The newspaper chosen will be conductive to providing notice of foreclosure to interested parties. Your attorney will know which newspaper is likely to be used. If there is no newspaper appropriate for this circulation, a Notice of Default or foreclosure will be posted at the courthouse of the county or counties in which the property is located and at the place where the property sale will be held. 

Your loan reinstatement period begins when your Notice of Default is filed with the county and ends five business days before the foreclosure sale in most states. During this period you can stop the foreclosure process by bringing your loan current. 

You bring your loan current by paying all past-due payments, as well as any penalties. If you are able to find the money to do this, possibly by borrowing from family or friends, you should ask your trustee or lender for a reinstatement statement. This statement will detail all funds that are owed. 

If you are able to get some of the money but can’t pay the amount due in full, you may be able to negotiate a partial payment agreement with your lender. 

A mortgage estoppel letter from the trustor or lender verifies the type of loan, any unpaid principal loan balance, interest rate, principal and interest payment, insurance payments, tax payment, payment due date, escrow impound balance, and total monthly payment. It will also include the amount of loan payments past due; the total amount of accrued interest; the late charges, penalties, and legal fees owed; and the total amount needed to cure the default and reinstate your mortgage loan. 

This is a legal process that lays out all the terms so a party to the transaction can’t later change the rules and ask for more money. If you are thinking about selling your home to avoid foreclosure, you likely will need to request an estoppel letter from your trustee or lender’s loss mitigation department. This gives the buyer a guarantee that he or she is getting full information about your loan so there are no surprises at closing. 

The first step in the process toward a loan foreclosure is to send a Notice of Default (for a non-judicial foreclosure) or file a lawsuit (for a judicial foreclosure). 

Once these acts are filed with the county in which the property is located, and if you are in a state that allows non-judicial foreclosure, then you enter into a reinstatement period, which is a period of about three months before your home is sold by the trustee or lender at auction. 

If you don’t pay all outstanding debt in full during the reinstatement period or work out some other payment arrangement with your trustee or lender, a Notice of Trustee Sale, which gives the date, time, and location of the sale of your property, will be recorded and sent to you. 

Lenders must use the judicial foreclosure process if it is required in the state in which the property is located. A judicial foreclosure requires a court action to repossess a person’s property. This type of foreclosure is required when a trust deed or mortgage does not have a “power of sale” clause, which means the lender must take the borrower to court. This can be a much more lengthy and costly process than is a non-judicial foreclosure. 

The judicial foreclosure process starts when a lender files a lawsuit to foreclose and names the borrower in default, which could be a mortgagor or trustor, as the defendant. Other defendants could be any lien holders of record that have an interest in the property.