Home » Bankruptcy Law » Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Lawyers » Cheltenham, PA Bankruptcy Lawyer » Cheltenham, PA Mortgage Foreclosure Defense Lawyer

Cheltenham, PA Mortgage Foreclosure Defense Lawyer

Having your property foreclosed on can be a difficult and scary experience. People facing foreclosure have worked very hard to get where they are, so it is often very demoralizing to feel like that is all going to be taken away so quickly. To make matters worse, lenders initiating foreclosure are not always cooperative and nice, so they may be tough to deal with, making it very hard to resolve the situation.

If you are facing a potential foreclosure in Cheltenham, we can help you out. We can talk to lenders to try and restructure or otherwise work out your mortgage, weigh the pros and cons of filing bankruptcy to stop foreclosure, or contest a foreclosure in court, depending on which course of action is best for you and your situation.

To get an obligation-free analysis of your claim, call Young, Marr, Mallis & Associates’s mortgage foreclosure defense lawyers by dialing (215) 701-6519.

What Kinds of Foreclosures are Allowed in Cheltenham, PA?

Foreclosures can be categorized as judicial foreclosures or non-judicial foreclosures. In Pennsylvania, judicial foreclosures are the only foreclosures that are allowed. This means that lenders have to go through court processes to initiate and carry out foreclosure proceedings. Practically speaking, this means that a foreclosure is less likely to “sneak up” on you than in states where they can happen outside of the courtroom. However, you will still likely need assistance from our mortgage foreclosure defense lawyers to help you combat an impending foreclosure.

How Long Does Foreclosure Take in Cheltenham, PA?

Foreclosure cannot happen immediately. There are things that parties looking to foreclose need to do before they can initiate proceedings, and there are steps you can take to try and stop the foreclosure process before it happens.

With no action taken on your part, it will take 120 days for a lender to initiate foreclosure proceedings and then complete all the steps needed to successfully foreclose on a property. The 120-day time period before foreclosure is sometimes called “preforeclosure” and is codified in 12 CFR § 1021.41.

Initial Notice of Foreclosure

However, just because there is a waiting period does not mean that nothing is going on. In fact, you should get some notice that foreclosure may happen fairly early on. Lenders are required to reach out to you within 30 days of your first delinquent payment, so there should be at least some indication that something needs to be resolved between you and your lender. That notice needs to give you an additional 30 days to “cure” or fix the issue. After that point, lenders may give you notice, but they are not required to, so it is important to pay attention to any initial communications from your lender and act accordingly.

Fixing the Default Without Foreclosure

Once you have notice that you have defaulted under the terms of your mortgage and may face foreclosure, there are things you can do to cure the default and stop foreclosure from happening. First, you can pay the amount you owe the lender within the allotted time, which will be specified in the mortgage. Of course, people facing foreclosure may have difficulty coming up with the funds to do so, so this is not necessarily the most practical option in many circumstances. Second, you can try to work something out with the lender. At the end of the day, lenders want to get paid, so restructuring your payment plan so that you are able to pay them can be beneficial to both you and your lender. Our lawyers can help you negotiate with your lender if restructuring your mortgage is a viable option.

If the lender does not want to restructure your mortgage, filing for bankruptcy is an option that automatically stops all efforts to collect debts you have and prevents future collection efforts until you are out of bankruptcy. This includes foreclosure proceedings. However, bankruptcy is a very serious decision that should only be made after consulting with an attorney, so plan ahead if you want to take this route.

Fighting Foreclosure Once It Starts in Cheltenham, PA

Circumstances may be such that it is not possible to stop a foreclosure before official foreclosure proceedings start. If that is the case, you are still not out of options yet. If you have not already done so, filing for bankruptcy will halt ongoing foreclosure proceedings. However, that is a serious choice to make, and there are other options that may be less drastic.

Once lenders bring foreclosure proceedings to a court, they have to tell you about them. This is done in the same manner as if you were being sued in court. They have to serve you with legal documents that tell you that you are being foreclosed, and they have to do so in a timely fashion. If they fail to do so, there is a good chance that you can stop foreclosure because you did not know about it. However, that does not mean that you can avoid foreclosure by “plugging your ears” and refusing to look at documents you have been served with.

Once you are served with process, you can contest a foreclosure in court. The process for fighting foreclosure mirrors other civil legal actions. You and our lawyers file an answer to the foreclosing party’s complaint, explaining why the foreclosure should not happen under the law. Each case is going to be different, so you should go over yours with our lawyers to figure out the best way to fight foreclosure for you.