Guide · November 9, 2026
Behind on your mortgage in Florida or Arizona: the first 120 days and your choices
For a loan on your main home, federal rules give four months before the first foreclosure filing. Use those months to apply for help, or to sell while every choice is open.
Key points
- For a loan on your main home, the servicer must try to reach you live by day 36 of a missed payment and write to you by day 45.
- The first foreclosure notice or filing generally waits until the loan is more than 120 days behind.
- Your choices include catching up, a repayment plan, forbearance, a loan change, or selling the house.
- A complete application for help sent early gives you the most protection. Keep a copy of every page.
- If the house is worth more than you owe, selling before a foreclosure lets you keep the difference.
- Never pay anyone upfront to save your home, and never sign over your deed outside a closing.
The first months after a missed payment
A missed mortgage payment starts a clock, but foreclosure is not the first step. For a loan on your main home, federal rules under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act set what the servicer must do first. The servicer is the company you send your payments to.
Under 12 CFR 1024.39, the servicer must try to reach you live no later than the 36th day of the missed payment, and send a written notice about your options no later than the 45th day. Under 12 CFR 1024.41(f), it generally cannot make the first foreclosure notice or filing until the loan is more than 120 days behind. This guide explains what to do in that time. It gives no legal or financial advice, so speak with a HUD-approved housing counselor or a lawyer about your own loan.
| Days behind | What the servicer does | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 35 | Late fee, as the loan papers allow | Call the servicer, and list your income and bills |
| By day 36 | Tries to reach you live | Ask what help is open to you |
| By day 45 | Sends a written notice about options | Start a full application for help |
| Up to day 120 | No first foreclosure filing on a main home, with exceptions | Finish the application, or get offers on the house |
| After day 120 | May start foreclosure | Your choices narrow, and costs grow |
Which loans these rules cover
12 CFR 1024.30(c)(2) says the early contact rules and the 120-day rule apply only to a loan secured by the borrower's principal residence, the home you live in. A loan on a rental house, a second home or a lot falls outside them. A small servicer, as the rules define it, is exempt from most of these duties too.
If you are not sure who owns your loan or who services it, send the servicer a written request for information. Under 12 CFR 1024.36, it must acknowledge the request within 5 business days and answer most requests within 30 business days. A request for the name and address of the loan's owner gets an answer within 10 business days.
Your choices, side by side
Each choice fits a different cause. A short drop in income may need a pause. A permanent drop may need a lower payment or a sale. Write down what changed and whether it will change back before you pick.
| Choice | How it works | Fits when |
|---|---|---|
| Catch up | Pay all missed payments and fees at once | You had a one-time gap and now have the money |
| Repayment plan | Add part of the missed amount to each payment for a set time | Your income is back and can carry a higher payment for a while |
| Forbearance | Payments pause or shrink for a time, and you repay the difference later | The problem is short, such as a medical leave |
| Loan modification | The lender changes the loan terms to lower the payment | Your income dropped for good, and you want to keep the house |
| Sell the house | The sale pays off the loan, and you keep what is left | You have equity, or the payment no longer fits your life |
| Short sale or deed in lieu | The lender accepts less than it is owed, or takes the house back | You owe more than the house is worth |
Forbearance and loan changes
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau describes forbearance as a process where the servicer lets you pause payments or make smaller ones for a time. You still owe the full amount and repay the difference later. Ask in writing how the paused amount will be repaid before you agree: all at once, through a plan, or added to the end of the loan.
A loan modification is a change in your loan terms. The CFPB says it can lower the monthly payment by extending the repayment period, reducing the interest rate, or setting aside or reducing part of the principal. The lender decides case by case, so apply early.
How to apply for help the right way
Ask the servicer for its loss mitigation application, the form it uses for every kind of help. Under 12 CFR 1024.41(b)(2), when it receives your application 45 days or more before a foreclosure sale, it must tell you in writing within 5 business days whether the application is complete, and list any missing papers with a deadline.
A complete application received more than 37 days before a sale must be decided within 30 days, in writing, under section 1024.41(c). Send papers in a way you can prove, keep copies, and write down every call: the date, the name and what was said.
- Recent pay stubs or benefit letters
- Recent tax returns
- Recent bank statements
- A hardship letter: what changed, when, and whether it will change back
- Your monthly bills and the amount you can pay each month
When selling is the better choice
Selling makes sense when the payment no longer fits your income and will not fit again, or when you want to move anyway. Before you decide, compare two numbers: what the house can sell for after costs, and your loan payoff with the missed payments and fees.
If the sale covers the payoff, the title company pays the lender at closing and you keep the rest. Selling early also protects your choices, because the closer you get to a sale date, the fewer buyers can close in time. The net proceeds calculator on this site does the arithmetic with your own numbers.
If the loan goes past 120 days
Foreclosure works differently in the two states. In Florida the lender goes to court, and the judge sets a sale date after a final judgment. In Arizona a loan with a deed of trust is foreclosed by a trustee, with the sale no sooner than the 91st day after the notice is recorded. Each state has its own guide with the dates and the last day to stop the sale.
Selling a house in foreclosure in Florida →
Warning signs of a scam
The Federal Trade Commission warns that scammers ask for money before they do anything, tell owners to pay them instead of the lender, tell owners to stop talking to the lender, promise to save the house, and try to get owners to sign over the deed. Keep paying and talking to your own servicer. A real buyer pays through a licensed title company, and the deed is signed only at closing.
HUD-approved housing counselors help with missed payments and foreclosure, often at little or no cost. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lists them by ZIP code, and its phone line is 1-855-411-2372.
Selling to BIMINIO while you are behind
BIMINIO buys houses with missed payments in Tampa, Miami, Orlando, Lakeland, Phoenix and Glendale, as is. You get a written cash offer within 24 hours, with the comparable sales we used and proof of funds, so you can compare it with your payoff. You pick a closing date from 7 to 35 days out, and we pay the closing costs. A cash offer is below full market value, so compare it with the other choices above.
Tell us how many payments are behind and whether a notice has arrived. Ask your servicer for a payoff figure at the same time, so you can set the offer next to the payoff and see what you would keep. If the offer does not leave you better off than a repayment plan or a loan change, choose the plan.
- You fill out the form or call, and get a text within a minute and a call within the hour.
- You get the written offer within 24 hours, with the comparable sales and a bank letter.
- If you accept, one building inspection of under 30 minutes follows.
- The title company orders the payoff, including the missed payments and fees.
- At closing it pays the lender and sends you the rest.
Behind on payments or facing foreclosure →
Want a number for your house? BIMINIO buys in Florida and Arizona, as is. A written offer comes within 24 hours.