Overview
Falling behind on your mortgage payments is a big deal. In fact, if you miss enough payments, your loan servicer can start the foreclosure process and seize your home.
It’s something that’s happening more and more often lately, according to data. In 2025 alone, there were more than 367,000 foreclosure filings across the U.S. — a jump of 14% from just the year prior.
Fortunately, if you accidentally miss a mortgage payment, all hope is not lost. There are still ways to course-correct and ensure you keep your home. And if you find yourself having a hard time making payments on the regular? There are steps you can take there, too.
Here’s what you need to know about missed mortgage payments, foreclosure, and how you can prevent both as a homeowner.
What is a Mortgage Payment?
Mortgages are loans you use to finance the purchase of a house. You make an upfront down payment, and then the rest of the home’s purchase price — plus interest for borrowing the cash — is spread across many years, allowing you to pay the money back gradually over time.
Once you buy your home, you’ll make payments on your mortgage loan monthly. These payments include money that goes toward the principal balance and interest on the loan, and often, things like taxes and insurance, too.
Know How Behind You Are
Legally, your loan servicer can’t foreclose on your home until you’re at least 120 days late on your mortgage — so four months behind on payments.
To see how at-risk you are, you should check your most recent mortgage statements, which you should get monthly, either in the mail or by email, or in an online dashboard. These will tell you whether you’re up to date on payments or behind on any.
If you’ve missed a payment and fear you may fall further behind, it’s time to take action. See below for where to start.
Contact Your Loan Servicer
The first step you should take, ideally before you even miss a payment, is to call up your servicer. Many companies offer options that can help get you through hard times.
These might include:
Forbearance: This lets you temporarily pause or reduce your payments, usually for a few months. It can sometimes be extended up to a year. This is a good option if you know your financial hardship has a time limit (maybe you’re on medical leave, for example).
Deferral: This lets you skip payments and move them to the end of your loan term — usually up to six payments total. You might want this option if you don’t have the money for your payments now, but know you will at the end of your loan term.
Loan modifications: This lets you modify your loan’s length or rate to put your monthly payment more in line with your current financial situation. You may want to choose this option if your household finances have changed permanently and you know you need to adjust your monthly payment for the long haul.
Payment plan: You may also be able to get on a payment plan to cover any payments you have missed and spread them out over time. This can make them more manageable financially. You might opt for this strategy if you’ve already missed a few payments and need to spread the cost of getting current on those out.
Keep in mind that you may need to fill out an application for these options, as well as provide documentation that proves you’re experiencing a financial hardship.
Talk to a Pro
Contacting a housing counselor, budgeting professional, or financial advisor may be able to help you get back on track with your finances and mortgage. You can do this at any point in the process if you want more guidance or need help deciding which of the above options to explore first.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a search tool you can use to find approved housing counselors in your area, and many of them are low-cost or even free. You can also call the Department of Housing and Urban Development directly for assistance at 800-569-4287.
Your state housing agency may also be able to help. They may have an assistance program or fund that you can utilize until you get back on your feet.
Consider Last-Ditch Efforts
If your loan servicer doesn’t have hardship options, like forbearance or loan modification, and you don’t see your finances getting better, you may need to consider some more drastic efforts to help the situation.
These might include:
Selling the house
As long as your home has a higher value than your loan balance, you can sell the property and use the proceeds to pay off your mortgage. You could then work on finding living arrangements that are more within your budget.
This strategy won’t work if your home has lost value, though, so talk to a real estate agent first to get an idea of what price your home might fetch in today’s market.
Explore a short sale
This is when you sell the home back to your lender for less than you owe, and your lender wipes your mortgage balance clean.
The upside of this strategy is that it keeps you from having more missed payments and a foreclosure on your credit report, which can reduce your score and impact your financial options for up to seven years. The downside is that it will mean losing out on any equity you’ve built in the property — and having to move, too.
File for bankruptcy
Bankruptcy may also be an option to avoid foreclosure, but talk to an attorney first, as this can have huge consequences for your credit and finances in the long run. It could also result in other assets being seized, so it’s not something you should consider unless you absolutely need to. Perhaps if you’re having trouble paying all your bills and are deeply in debt, for example.
Act Quickly to Keep Your House
If a potential foreclosure is anywhere on your radar, act fast. Talk to a housing counselor, call up your loan servicer, and start thinking about what you might do if you can’t get back on track.
Being proactive will help ensure you have a number of options at your disposal and, hopefully, will prevent you from losing your home to foreclosure.
by your friends at The Daily Navigator
