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Saturday, February 21, 2009

Explanation Of Foreclosure

By Danny Thomas

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.

For the average person who isn't a real estate agent or mortgage officer, foreclosures can be difficult to navigate and understand. There seems to be so many foreign terms associated with the concept that it can leave most of us feeling like we are in the dark. It is easy to get confused when foreclosure related terms are used.

It would be helpful for people to understand a few terms associated with foreclosure. This will help us all feel more educated and more capable of carrying on a conversation about it when necessary. You will almost always hear the term lien holder when talking about foreclosure. Simply put, the lien holder is the bank, credit union, or financial institution that issued the mortgage. Technically, until you pay off the mortgage on a home, the lien holder has most of the power.

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.

If you are behind on payments, and there is an acceleration clause in your mortgage, the lien holder can decide to accelerate your mortgage and require you pay the full amount or the home will be foreclosed. If there weren't an acceleration clause, technically if you failed to make payments, the mortgage holder could really only hold you accountable for what you haven't paid, not the full amount you owe on the home. They would have to wait until payments became due.

Default is a term used in the previous paragraph. It is a term that is pretty self explanatory, but it is still important to know what it means. When someone fails to make payment on their mortgage as the terms and guidelines state on the mortgage, the loan is considered to be defaulted on. If you default on a loan, you have not kept your contractual obligations and the lender can move forward with reclaiming the property as the terms of the mortgage stipulate.

Even though foreclosure can seem like a tedious concept to understand, knowing these terms will help you navigate your way through and hopefully even avoid foreclosure. Understanding the terms will help you be able to communicate better with your lien holder so you feel like you are not left in the dark.

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