No foreclosure while your complete application is being reviewed ("dual tracking")

If you send a complete application for help before the foreclosure is started, the servicer cannot start the foreclosure until it has decided and any appeal is over. If you send it after the foreclosure started but more than 37 days before the sale, the servicer cannot ask for a foreclosure judgment or order of sale, or hold the sale, until it has finished the review — unless you are denied and the appeal is over, you reject the offers, or you do not follow an agreement.

Borrowers with a complete loss-mitigation application on a mortgage loan secured by their principal residence.

• Only while you are behind but have no foreclosure notice yet, after a notice of default or once a sale date is set.
• Only for conventional, FHA, VA, USDA or home-equity loans.
• Only if the home is your primary residence.
• Only once your application for help is complete.
• Your application must be complete, and it must reach the servicer more than 37 days before the sale date scheduled at that time.
• Only for a loan on the home you live in as your main home. Small servicers and reverse mortgages are mostly exempt.

• Get written confirmation that your application is complete

  Keep the servicer's letter saying your application is complete, and proof of the date it got the application.

  Open the tool

• If the servicer moves ahead anyway, object in writing

  Send a notice of error right away, before the sale, saying the servicer is moving to sale while your complete application is pending. In a court case, tell the judge too.

  Deadline: Before the sale date. The servicer must answer this kind of error before the sale or within 30 business days, whichever is earlier.

  Open the tool

• Prepare for a hearing

  If there is a court hearing, practice explaining the dates of your application and the servicer's actions.

  Open the tool

• It does not help if your complete application arrives 37 days or less before the sale date scheduled at that time, even if the sale is later postponed.
• Protection ends if you are denied and the appeal is over, you reject every offer, or you fail to follow a trial or permanent agreement.
• Reg X does not by itself cancel a sale that already happened; your remedy is usually money damages, and state law may add more.
• Only one full review is required if you have stayed delinquent since an earlier complete application.
• This is general legal information, not legal advice, and it does not promise any result. A HUD-approved housing counselor or a lawyer can look at your facts.

1. Federal regulationRegulation X — complete application before the first filing

   12 C.F.R. § 1024.41(f)(2)

   Exact part: (f)(2)

   What it says: If a complete application arrives before the first foreclosure notice or filing, the servicer may not make that first notice or filing until the review and any appeal are done.

   Read the official texthttps://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-12/part-1024/section-1024.41#p-1024.41(f)(2)
2. Federal regulationRegulation X — no judgment, order of sale or sale

   12 C.F.R. § 1024.41(g)

   Exact part: (g)

   What it says: If a complete application arrives after the first filing but more than 37 days before a sale, the servicer may not move for judgment or order of sale, or conduct the sale, until the review is done.

   Read the official texthttps://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-12/part-1024/section-1024.41#p-1024.41(g)
3. Federal lawRESPA — private right of action

   12 U.S.C. § 2605(f)

   Exact part: (f)

   What it says: Borrowers can enforce these rules in court.

   Read the official texthttps://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title12-section2605&num=0&edition=prelim

• Homeowner lostCited for this right
  Lage v. Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC

  Lage v. Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC, 839 F.3d 1003 (11th Cir. 2016)

  a servicer's duty to evaluate a loss-mitigation application depends on its being submitted more than 37 days before the sale date scheduled at that time

• Homeowner lostSame topic
  Martins v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, L.P.

  Martins v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, L.P., 722 F.3d 249 (5th Cir. 2013)

  a mortgage servicer acting for a properly assigned mortgagee may foreclose in Texas without possessing the original note, and an oral promise to modify a large loan is not enforceable

• Homeowner lostSame topic
  Gresham v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.

  Gresham v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 642 F. App'x 355 (5th Cir. 2016) (per curiam) (unpublished)

  the federal dual-tracking bar applies only when the servicer receives a complete loss-mitigation application more than 37 days before the foreclosure sale

• Homeowner lostSame topic
  Boren v. U.S. National Bank Ass'n

  Boren v. U.S. Nat'l Bank Ass'n, 807 F.3d 99 (5th Cir. 2015)

  a lender may abandon a prior acceleration by giving notice that it seeks less than the full accelerated balance, which restarts the four-year limitations period

• Homeowner lostSame topic
  Whittier v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, L.L.C.

  Whittier v. Ocwen Loan Servicing, L.L.C., 594 F. App'x 833 (5th Cir. 2014) (per curiam) (unpublished)

  a RESPA claim against a servicer fails without evidence of actual damages caused by the violation

• Homeowner lostSame topic
  Milton v. U.S. Bank National Ass'n

  Milton v. U.S. Bank Nat'l Ass'n, 508 F. App'x 326 (5th Cir. 2013) (per curiam) (unpublished)

  an agreement to delay a Texas foreclosure falls within the statute of frauds and must be in writing to be enforced

• Homeowner wonSame topic
  Renfroe v. Nationstar Mortgage, LLC

  Renfroe v. Nationstar Mortg., LLC, 822 F.3d 1241 (11th Cir. 2016)

  a servicer that answers a borrower's written request without a reasonable investigation may be liable under RESPA when the borrower alleges resulting damages