*Note: This was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Do you have a personal finance story that you'd like to share? Sign up with the Yahoo! Contributor Network to start publishing your own finance articles.
I went through foreclosure in Colorado during 2008 and 2010. Every state is different when it comes to the foreclosure process and Colorado has some things that are unique. Here is what I learned during my foreclosure.
Public Trustee
I believe Colorado is the only state that has a public trustee. Foreclosure in Colorado is a non-judicial process. This means that the mortgage company does not have to file a lawsuit to foreclose on your home, they just need to file paperwork that says you have not been paying your mortgage as agreed. In many states with non-judicial foreclosure, the trustee is someone that the bank hires. In Colorado, the public trustee is the county. For me, this was very helpful because my county listed all foreclosure documentation online in a publicly searchable format. I just had to go to the website to find out exactly what paperwork had been filed and where I was at in the process. They also had foreclosure requirements on the website so it was an easy place to look to find out exactly how foreclosure works in Colorado and what the timeline is.
Intent to Cure
I believe Colorado is unique in the Intent to Cure that a borrower can file with the public trustee. The Intent to Cure is a document that you can file with the public trustee no later than 15 days before your sale date that essentially says that you plan to bring the loan current no later than noon the day before the sale date. When you file this document, the mortgage company is required to provide the trustee with the amount required to bring the loan current. I found this very useful since the bank that owned my second mortgage was very difficult to work with. I had a hard time getting them to tell me how much I owed them and where to send it. I filed an Intent to Cure just in case my issues with the bank were not worked out in time.
Delaying Foreclosure
From when I missed my first payment to when the foreclosure process was scheduled to be complete was about 6 months both times. If you work with your bank, this sale date can be delayed. When I decided to save my house from foreclosure in 2008, I was able to stop the foreclosure sale with less than 30 days left until the sale date. I worked out an agreement with the banks and they filed paperwork to delay the sale date. When we worked out a final agreement, they withdrew the foreclosure entirely.
There are no comments yet