DictionaryThe buying process

Foreclosure: what it means

Foreclosure is the process by which the lender or servicer takes back the property after the homeowner fails to make mortgage payments. The rules and timelines depend on each state; all of them include advance notices and, in general, time to catch up or ask for an alternative, such as a repayment plan or a loan modification.

In Spanish it is

Ejecución hipotecaria (foreclosure)

Also written as: foreclosure sale · default

A man tours his new home with a housing specialist.

Verified on October 16, 2026

2 official sources

See the whole dictionary

The full explanation

If you fall behind, call your servicer and a HUD-approved housing counseling agency early: foreclosure counseling is free and exists for exactly this.

An example

After losing his job, Rubén fell two months behind. Before foreclosure began, a HUD counselor helped him ask his servicer for a repayment plan.

You will see it in…

Delinquency and default notices from your loan servicer
Court or trustee letters, depending on the state
Housing counseling agencies' service lists (“Mortgage delinquency and default”)

Words that go with it

You will rarely see this word alone. These are the ones that show up with it on the same papers.

More guides that use “foreclosure”

Still confused by a paper?

A HUD-approved housing counselor can walk you through it. Agencies usually charge little or nothing, many work in Spanish, and they do not sell you anything.

What a housing counselor does See free help

Official sources

We sum up what these official sources say, in plain words. We add no rules they do not state; when a rule changes, the definition and its date change.

1. CFPB · Mortgages key terms: foreclosure (external site) · in English · Verified on October 16, 2026
2. CFPB · Find a housing counselor (external site) · in English · Verified on October 16, 2026