Foreclosures

Foreclosure is a type of lawsuit. In a foreclosure the holder of your mortgage asks a court to let them sell your house at auction in order to pay off your debt. If that happens, you could lose your home. The mortgage holder is often the bank that you borrowed the money from to buy the house, but it could be another bank or company that has taken over the mortgage. The mortgage holder will be the “plaintiff” in the lawsuit and you will be named as the “defendant.” You may not recognize the name of the plaintiff because you may be making payments to some other company that works for your lender called a “mortgage servicer.”

This section of the website tells you what to do in a New York State Supreme Court case after you get a foreclosure Summons and Complaint. If a foreclosure case has not been started yet, but you have missed mortgage payments or you have gotten an Acceleration letter from mortgage holder, it is very important that you seek help now. Visit You Miss Mortgage Payments to find out what to do.

Foreclosure Case Basics
Get a basic idea of what happens in a foreclosure case.

Answering a Foreclosure Case
Learn how to Answer a foreclosure summons and complaint.

Foreclosure Settlement Conferences
Find out how to prepare for a settlement conference and what may happen.

Foreclosure Judgments
Read about how the plaintiff gets a foreclosure judgment and how the sale takes place.

Foreclosure Resources
List of free and low-cost services for homeowners with money problems. Helpful links to websites outside the court system with information about your options.