A Step By Step Review Of The Connecticut Foreclosure Process

Understanding the Connecticut foreclosure process is essential if you are to mount a defense to keep your home. Knowing what to expect will help you avoid being taken advantage of by banks who may try underhanded tactics to take your home from you. While it is true that banks generally want money rather than the property, they will do whatever it takes to get what they feel rightfully belongs to them.

In Connecticut, you can be subject to one of three kinds of foreclosures. In a Foreclosure by Sale, the bank basically sells the house from under you. A Strict foreclosure involves the court giving the homeowner a certain amount of time to catch up the payments after which it will turn the home over to the bank. Judicial foreclosure is where a judge decides if the debt is valid and what happens to the home.

Your bank will initiate the proceedings by sending you a letter giving you 30 days to get caught up the payments. If you do not pay what is due then they go to the next step.

A title search is done to determine who the lien holders are on the property. Typically this is all persons listed on the loan as well as any other financial companies that have a lien against the home, such as a second mortgage company. All lien holders will receive a court summons notifying them of the bank’s intent to foreclose on the home.

Within 15 days after getting the summons, you have to file a certificate for mediation. Participation in the mediation program is mandatory if you meet the eligibility requirements. People who own 1-4 family dwellings or who can answer yes on the questionnaire must work with their bank through mediation to come to terms about the home.

Even though you are working to renegotiate the terms of your agreement with the bank through mediation, the bank will continue to file motions on the case. They will submit a motion for default judgment for failure to appear, one for default judgment for failure to plead in case you or any other lien holder has not filed Answer papers within two days of being served court summons and a motion for summary judgment which requests a ruling on the issue of you owing money on the loan.

One important thing to note is that while the bank may continue to file motions with the court, they will not receive a judgment regarding the case until mediation ends. The time allotted for mediation is sixty days although you may petition the court for more time. If you want to stay in your home, then mediation is the best chance you have to getting the bank to modify the terms of your loan so it is important to participate.

The foreclosure process will stop if you and the lender are able to renegotiate the debt to your mutual satisfaction. If not, then the next step is Judgment where the court determines who will be victorious in the case and whether the house reverts back to the lender or must be sold. What the court decides usually hinges upon how much is owed on the house note versus the home’s market value.

At any time during the Connecticut foreclosure, even after Judgment, you can save your house. Don’t consider your cause lost until after you are put out of the house so use everything at your disposal to save your home.

Ct foreclosure can be harsh, because no one wants to lose their house, but there is always light at the end of the tunnel.. Connecticut foreclosures happen often and no one wants to be out of a home, so you should look for some help.