The Truth About Foreclosure

When a person has a mortgage on a home and can no longer make payments for one reason or another, often the result is foreclosure. Foreclosure is when the bank or company that offered the mortgage on the home takes the home away from the mortgage holder because of their inability to make payments.

Foreclosures can seem complicated since there are so many different terms associated with them. Real estate agents and loan officers might know these terms like the back of their hands, but to the rest of us, it would be easy to get confused when terms start to be used.

Lien holder is another term important to understand as it relates to foreclosure. The lender, usually a bank or credit union, gives you money to finance your purchase of the home. This means there is a lien on the home. In truth, the lien holder has the power to take back the home, or foreclose on it, if you don't keep your contractual obligations.

Acceleration or acceleration clause is also an important term to know. Most mortgage terms contain an acceleration clause these days. This is what allows the lien holder to declare the entire amount of the home as debt owed and not just the amount you have defaulted on paying.

With the acceleration clause, a lien holder can demand that the entire mortgage be due within a certain time frame thus accelerating the due date of the entire loan. This is what allows the lender to declare the entire loan is in default. With this clause, the lender has the right to say you owe us the full amount you borrowed and if you can't pay it, we are foreclosing on the home.

The lender might be able to get a judge to allow them to take back pieces of the land equaling the amount you have failed to pay, but this is a tedious process. It is safer for them to have an acceleration clause so that they can demand the full payment of the loan. Obviously, most people won't be able to make the payment which then allows the lender to foreclose on the home because you owed them the entire amount of the home and didn't pay it.

When it comes to foreclosure, there are a lot of details to try to take in. Understanding these few basic terms will help you make foreclosures just a little less foreign.