Once you receive a foreclosure filing or notice, a clock starts to tick off the days. If you’ve been following the series of Foreclosure Prevention, you are aware of Ohio’s Foreclosure Timeline and understand you should get assistance and file an answer to the mortgage servicer’s “complaint” against you right away. You, the homeowner, have 28 days to file an “Answer” to the complaint once it is filed with the court. You must file your “Answer” to the complaint with the court in your county.Legal help can be found through the Ohio Legal Services Association, the Legal Aid Society of Columbus, or the Ohio State Bar Association. Submitting your “Answer” to the court slows down the foreclosure process.
If you do not file an “Answer” and 28 days pass, the court will assume that you agree with everything in the complaint and the bank will win the case. This is why connecting with legal help is so important.
Ohio is one of the states that require foreclosures to go through the courts. A judge must sign off on a foreclosure. In order for this to happen the lender first files with the court a complaint that the homeowner has breached the lender’s terms of the promissory note. Remember that homeowners give the lender a mortgage, meaning they pledge the house as security (collateral) for the loan, and homeowners also sign a promissory note – a “promise” to repay the loan. Homeowners usually think that the mortgage is the promise to pay, but it is the promissory note that contains the promise to repay the amount borrowed. The complaint spells out the location of the property; the amount of money the borrower is in default; and asks the court for the right to sell the property and have the amount raised in a sheriff’s sale to recover money they are owed. Be aware there is an “acceleration clause” where if you fall behind in your payments the lender can claim the total balance of the mortgage is due! If you receive a letter telling you your mortgage has been “accelerated” it usually means foreclosure proceedings are on the way.
The homeowner must answer this complaint within 28 days of its filing in the county court where the property is located. The homeowner should locate a HUD approved housing agency to find someone to work with throughout the foreclosure process. This is done by calling the Foreclosure Prevention Hotline through the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) at 1-888-404-4674 and online at www.savethedream.ohio.gov. This agency is ready to provide helpful support near you. Their site has a resource page to assist homeowners avoid foreclosure. The people who answer the phone can refer you to a local HUD approved housing counseling agency with the background, knowledge and experience to provide useful information about foreclosure prevention.
The property owner must answer each claim made by the lender in the complaint. Getting legal help to answer the complaint is advisable. Additional free legal assistance is available from the Legal Aid Society of Columbus, Ohio Legal Aid, Ohio Poverty Law Center, and ProSeniors.
http://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/foreclosure/respond-summons.html
National Consumer Law Center, (2013). Guide to surviving debt. Boston: MA.
