Toolkit

33 moves

• Authority verified#1

  Submit a complete loss-mitigation application

  Any homeowner in default or imminent default on a federally-related mortgage loan. RESPA's Reg X coverage is broad but has small-servicer and other exceptions that have not yet been fetched into the corpus.

  Highly variable. A facially complete application generally blocks the servicer from moving for foreclosure judgment or sale while it is pending and undecided. There is no confirmed specific day-count without a live-verified regulatory text — do not state one until the eCFR extractor bug is fixed.Free to submit.

  12 C.F.R. § 1024.41
• Authority verified#2

  Forbearance request

  A temporary, documentable hardship where the homeowner can reasonably resume payments afterward.

  Typically a fixed pause of a few months, renewable in some programs. There is no reliable specific number for non-federally-backed loans.Free to request; interest generally still accrues during forbearance.

  12 C.F.R. § 1024.41
• Authority verified#3

  Repayment plan request

  A homeowner who can resume full monthly payments now plus extra toward missed arrears.

  Spreads arrears over months; doesn't itself delay a sale unless the servicer agrees to pause foreclosure while it runs (see items 1 and 9, dual-tracking).Free to request; increases the monthly payment for the plan's duration.

  12 C.F.R. § 1024.41
• Authority verified#4

  Loan modification request

  A homeowner with a longer-term change in ability to pay who needs permanently changed loan terms.

  Underwriting can take weeks to months, during which 12 C.F.R. § 1024.41 protections (if the application is complete) generally apply; if approved, this resolves the default rather than just delaying it.Free to apply; may involve a trial-payment period first.

  12 C.F.R. § 1024.41
• Authority verified#5

  Short sale

  A homeowner who owes more than the home is worth (or close to it), is willing to give up the home, and wants to avoid a foreclosure judgment/sale on record.

  Can pause a scheduled sale while the lender reviews a bona fide offer, tied to loss-mitigation/12 C.F.R. § 1024.41 protections if treated as a complete application.Free to request; commission and closing costs come from proceeds; possible tax consequences on forgiven debt (refer to a tax professional — this is not tax advice).

  12 C.F.R. § 1024.41
• Authority verified#6

  Deed-in-lieu of foreclosure

  A homeowner with no equity, no buyer, who wants to avoid a sale/judgment via a voluntary deed transfer.

  A similar dual-tracking-style pause while the request is under review; resolution ends the case.Free to request; some lenders offer relocation assistance in an amount that varies and is unconfirmed here.

  12 C.F.R. § 1024.41
• Authority verified#7

  RESPA Notice of Error (NOE)

  Any homeowner who believes the servicer made an error — a misapplied payment, a wrongful fee, a wrongful foreclosure referral, or incorrect payoff/escrow figures.

  Not itself a stay — it strengthens a later legal claim. The servicer must respond within a regulatory timeframe, but the exact day-count is unconfirmed until the underlying regulation is independently verified.Free.

  12 C.F.R. § 1024.35

  Write the notice of error
• Authority verified#8

  RESPA Request for Information (RFI)

  Any homeowner who needs to know who owns or services the loan, or wants specific account information.

  Same caveat as the Notice of Error (item 7) — this is a documentation tool, not itself a stay.Free.

  12 C.F.R. § 1024.36
• Authority verified#9

  Assert a dual-tracking violation

  A homeowner with a complete loss-mitigation application pending and undecided when the servicer moved for judgment or held a sale anyway.

  If proven, grounds to challenge the sale itself. The exact remedy mechanics (injunction, damages, or both) are unconfirmed without a live, verified fetch of 12 C.F.R. § 1024.41.Free to raise; litigating it likely needs an attorney or legal aid.

  12 C.F.R. § 1024.41
• Authority verified#10

  Successor-in-interest recognition request

  A homeowner who received the property through death, divorce, or certain family transfers, is not the original borrower, and wants the servicer to deal with them directly.

  The 12 C.F.R. § 1024.41 family of protections should apply once documented and the application is complete; the exact subsection is unconfirmed.Free.

  12 C.F.R. § 1024.41
• Referral only#11

  Federal debt-validation letter (FDCPA)

  Homeowners contacted by a third-party debt collector (not always the servicer itself) about the mortgage debt.

  A timely validation request generally must pause collection activity — not necessarily the foreclosure sale itself, which runs on Texas Property Code timelines — until the debt is validated.Free.

  15 U.S.C. § 1692g (FDCPA debt validation) — zero corpus/scaffold backing, not in the 33-record corpus; needs a fresh research/fetch pass, not just a fetch of an already-identified section
• Authority verified#12

  Texas Finance Code Ch. 392 written dispute (general)

  Any homeowner experiencing threats, harassment, unfair or unconscionable collection means, or misapplied payments from a servicer or collector.

  Not itself a stay — it creates a documented record and a possible civil remedy.Free to send; enforcing a remedy may require an attorney.

  Tex. Fin. Code § 392.301
• Authority verified#13

  Contest a Rule 736 home-equity expedited foreclosure application

  A homeowner served with a Rule 736 citation for a home-equity loan, reverse mortgage, HELOC, tax lien transfer/property tax loan, or HOA assessment lien.

  Filing a response by the citation's deadline (the first Monday after 38 days from mailing) forces a hearing under Rule 736.6 (not earlier than 20, not later than 30 days after a hearing request) instead of an automatic default order under Rule 736.7 (which only applies if no response is filed).Free — a pro se general denial under Rule 92 is expressly allowed under Rule 736.5(c), except the respondent must affirmatively plead specific grounds.

  Tex. R. Civ. P. 736.5
• Authority verified#14

  File an independent suit before the Monday deadline to trigger the automatic stay

  An active Rule 736 proceeding where the homeowner has a genuine, separate defect claim (from the process-notice/ownership-standing categories) — never a refusal-list theory.

  Filing a qualifying separate suit before 5:00 p.m. the Monday before the scheduled sale automatically stays the Rule 736 order/proceeding (Rule 736.11(a)); a sale held during the stay is void, and the trustee must return the purchase price within 10 business days (Rule 736.11(d)).A civil filing fee (typically a few hundred dollars, not independently confirmed here — don't quote a specific figure without checking the county's current fee schedule) plus service cost; legal aid may cover fees.

  Tex. R. Civ. P. 736.11
• Authority verified#15

  Challenge a signed Rule 736 order after the fact

  A homeowner who missed the response window, or whose response was overruled, and the order has already been signed.

  None automatically. Rule 736.9 makes the order "without prejudice," with no res judicata/collateral estoppel effect; Rule 736.8(c) bars rehearing, new trial, bill of review, or appeal of the order itself. The only path is a new separate suit (same mechanism as item 14) filed before the Monday deadline before the next scheduled sale.Same as item 14 (a new separate suit).

  Tex. R. Civ. P. 736.8
• Authority verified#16

  Raise a missing or defective notice of default / notice of sale

  A homeowner who never received, or received a defective, notice of default (with a cure opportunity) or notice of sale.

  Varies by forum and timing — there is no single confirmed number.Free to gather records; a TRO filing has a cost if used to stop an imminent sale.

  Tex. Prop. Code § 51.002
• Authority verified#17

  Raise a sale held on a prohibited date (Jan 1 or July 4)

  The "first Tuesday" fell on Jan 1 or July 4 and the sale wasn't moved to the first Wednesday instead.

  Potentially case-ending for that sale, if the fact pattern holds — narrow and rare, check the specific year first.Free — a calendar check.

  Tex. Prop. Code § 51.002
• Authority verified#18

  Raise a sale held outside the designated time/place window

  A sale held outside 10 a.m.-4 p.m., or outside the designated/notice-stated location.

  Potentially voids the sale if the mismatch is real and outside the allowed window — not itself a delay tool but a defect.Free to gather records.

  Tex. Prop. Code § 51.0025
• Authority verified#19

  Raise the four-year limitations defense

  The full debt was accelerated more than 4 years before the judicial suit or non-judicial sale, and the acceleration was never validly rescinded (check item 20 first).

  Potentially case-ending — on expiration, Civil Practice & Remedies Code § 16.035(d) makes the lien AND the power of sale VOID.Free to gather records and raise the defense.

  Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.035
• Authority verified#20

  Check for a lender rescission of acceleration before relying on item 19

  A due-diligence check, not an affirmative claim — the taxonomy classifies its entryType as "refusal," an engineering judgment call flagged for the lead's confirmation.

  None by itself — this check either confirms or refutes the four-year clock computed in item 19.Free to check.

  Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.038
• Authority verified#21

  Raise a wrong / unauthorized substitute trustee defect

  A sale conducted by someone who wasn't the original trustee and wasn't properly appointed as substitute.

  Potentially voids the sale if the appointment gap is real and documented — not itself a delay tool.Free to gather records.

  Tex. Prop. Code § 51.0075
• Authority verified#22

  Raise an assignment-chain gap — only where a link is void, not voidable

  A specific, documented VOID gap in the recorded assignment chain — not a general "who owns my loan" objection, which is the MERS refusal and does not work.

  Potentially voids the specific assignment and, depending on the facts, the sale — a narrow, fact-specific claim, not a general delay tool.Free to gather records; an actual legal-sufficiency determination likely requires an attorney.

  Tex. Prop. Code § 51.0025
• Authority verified#23

  Confirm a home-equity loan foreclosure lacked the required Rule 736 court order

  A home-equity loan, reverse mortgage, or HELOC under Tex. Const. art. XVI § 50(a)(6)/(k)/(t).

  Potentially total — if no Rule 736 order exists, the sale is void.Free to check the trustee's deed and court records.

  Tex. R. Civ. P. 736.12
• Referral only#24

  Confirm a probate-estate foreclosure skipped the required affidavit/citation/hearing

  A foreclosure brought against a deceased person's estate.

  Potentially case-ending if a required step was genuinely skipped — exact effect unconfirmed without a verified citation.Free to obtain and review the probate court file.

  Tex. Estates Code §§ 355.156-.159 — confirmed absent from the 33-record corpus
• Authority verified#25

  File bankruptcy to trigger the automatic stay

  Any homeowner eligible and willing to file Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

  Rule 736.10 requires a Rule 736 proceeding to be abated "so long as the automatic stay is effective" — real and verified; how long federal bankruptcy law lets that last is unfetched.Bankruptcy filing and attorney fees — not free, and a major financial decision beyond foreclosure.

  Tex. R. Civ. P. 736.10
• Referral only#26

  Assert SCRA active-duty servicemember protections

  Active-duty servicemembers, or certain dependents.

  A real protection under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, but the specific section number is unconfirmed here — do not state one to a homeowner without a live fetch.Free — military legal assistance (JAG) is built for exactly this.

  50 U.S.C. § 3953 (SCRA) — citation unconfirmed, not independently reconfirmed by this team; SCRA has been renumbered before, so this section number must be re-verified by a live fetch, not assumed correct
• Referral only#27

  Assert the Texas-specific military sale restriction

  A servicemember whose property may fall under Tex. Prop. Code § 51.015 ("Sale of Certain Property Owned by Member of the Military").

  Unconfirmed — the citation itself is not in the corpus, so no specific time-gained figure can be stated with confidence.Free to raise as a due-diligence check.

  Tex. Prop. Code § 51.015 ("Sale of Certain Property Owned by Member of the Military") — confirmed NOT present anywhere in the real 33-record corpus, not as its own record, not quoted inside another record, not under any other section number
• Authority verified#28

  Dispute misapplied payments or unauthorized fees (Finance Code Ch. 392)

  Any homeowner whose servicer misapplied a payment or charged an unauthorized fee.

  Not itself a stay — a documentation and dispute tool with a possible civil remedy once the error is proven.Free to dispute; litigating an uncorrected error may require an attorney.

  Tex. Fin. Code § 392.303
• Authority verified#29

  Dispute debt-collector threats, harassment, or coercion (Finance Code Ch. 392)

  A homeowner contacted by a debt collector using threats, harassment, or coercion — regardless of whether the debt is actually owed.

  Not itself a stay — creates a documented record and a possible civil remedy.Free to document and dispute; litigating an uncorrected pattern may require an attorney.

  Tex. Fin. Code § 392.301
• Referral only#30

  Challenge an HOA lien foreclosure for skipping the required payment-plan offer

  A homeowner facing foreclosure over unpaid HOA or POA assessments.

  Potentially case-ending if a required payment-plan offer was genuinely skipped — exact effect unconfirmed without a verified citation.Free to obtain and review the HOA's delinquency file.

  Tex. Prop. Code §§ 209.0062, 209.0063, 209.011 — confirmed absent from the 33-record corpus
• Authority verified#31

  Confirm and exercise the tax-sale redemption right

  Former owners of homestead, agricultural-use, or mineral-interest property after a tax foreclosure sale, within the statutory redemption window.

  A real post-sale second chance: up to 2 years from the date the purchaser's deed is filed for record to redeem homestead, agricultural-use, or mineral-interest property, per Tex. Tax Code § 34.21(a) (now fetched and verified).The purchaser's bid amount, plus the deed recording fee and the taxes/penalties/interest/costs the purchaser paid, plus a redemption premium of 25% of that total if redeemed in year one, or 50% if redeemed in year two — a real, significant cost, not free.

  Tex. Tax Code § 34.21
• Authority verified#32

  Escalate to a regulatory complaint (CFPB / Texas Attorney General)

  A homeowner who tried a direct dispute (items 1-12, 28-29) and the servicer/collector hasn't corrected a real, documented violation.

  Not a legal stay of foreclosure by itself — doesn't pause a sale date; be honest that it's slow and agency-driven, not a substitute for items 13/14 if a sale date is imminent.Free to file.

  12 C.F.R. § 1024.41
• Referral only#33

  Refer to free help: legal aid and HUD-approved housing counselors

  Every homeowner, at any stage — the toolkit's safety-net item, not a legal claim.

  None directly — this item connects a homeowner to people who can help evaluate which of items 1-32 actually apply to their situation.Free.

  No authority attached yet.