If you are a homeowner in areas like Red Hook, Brooklyn, Mott Haven, Bronx, Corona, Queens, or other areas in Manhattan, and Staten Island, and you have fallen behind on your mortgage payments, you are probably worried about the risk of foreclosure. You need answers to questions like, when will the foreclosure process begin? What are my options to stop the foreclosure? Will I be evicted?
New York State is listed as a judicial foreclosure state, which means that the far majority of bank foreclosure will pass through the judicial system. Although the non-judicial process is faster, it includes more protection for homeowners in default. After you miss the third payment on your mortgage you will be notified by the bank that a foreclosure may be coming. Most banks will not act until all three payments have been missed.
Once the initial payment is missed, banks will allow you ninety days to pay any owed mortgage payments prior to the foreclosure process. After this grace period, the lending institution will notify you with a certified letter. This serves as a warning that your lending institution will initiate legal action against you.
Once you receive this warning your bank will contact the court and a file a complaint. You will then be notified that you have 35 days to respond to the bank’s complaint. If the borrower fails to respond, the legal case will move through the court system, and the foreclosure process will begin. At this point, the homeowner should have found legal representation. A homeowner who fails to find a lawyer is putting his or her financial future in jeopardy.