How, Exactly, Do Lenders Collect Deficiency Judgments? Here’s What You Need to Know When You Own a Home

A mortgage lender can get a judgment lien against your personal property and other real estate that you own within the county, giving it a security interest in that property. This means the bank can foreclose on that other real estate; it might do this if you have equity and the bank thinks it’ll get enough money to mUntitled17ake the effort worthwhile.

Even if you own real estate in another county, the mortgage creditor can transfer the judgment to the county where the real property is located. With a deficiency judgment lien, the creditor also has an interest in any personal property that you owned at the time it filed the judgment lien (subject to any available exemptions you may have). This includes jewelry, antiques, or art.

Wage Garnishments. Just like any other lien creditor, the mortgage creditor can take part of your employment income (often called garnishing your wages). If creditor knows where you work, it may go the garnishment route. There are some limits as to how much money can be garnished from your income, since you are entitled to exempt some of your personal income. Legally, creditors can usually only take up to 25% of your take home pay. Some states have stricter rules. There may also be limits on how long they can continuously take money out of your paycheck.

Bank Account Levies. The mortgage creditor may also attempt to levy your bank accounts. This may be relatively easy for them to do if you had previously paid the lender with checks drawn on an open bank account. As with your other assets, you may be entitled to exempt a portion, if not all, of the funds in your account.

Just because a mortgage creditor has a deficiency judgment does not mean it will try to collect. Many creditors find that it is just not worth the cost and expense to pursue collection, and instead write-off the debt. If this happens, you might owe taxes on the forgiven amount. If the creditor thinks that you are collectible, it may take further collection action on the deficiency judgment. If you cannot successfully protect yourself and your assets using defenses and exemptions specific to wage garnishment, levies, attachment, or foreclosure, consider filing bankruptcy. If bankruptcy is not an option for you, you may be able to work out a payment agreement with the creditor. 

If the creditor had taken a default judgment against you and you were unaware of the deficiency case or were unable to defend yourself, you may be able to get the court to vacate (remove) or modify (change) the deficiency judgment. You must act quickly and have acceptable legal and factual reasons for this request. For example, the creditor waited too long to take a deficiency judgment and violated the statute of limitations, which is often shortened in mortgage deficiency actions.

Comments 1

  • If you are unable to pay your mortgage on any given month, you need to contact your lender. Most homeowners don’t understand that lenders will work with you. They don’t want you to default on a loan. They have to send the home into foreclosure, and they end up losing money on it. Don’t avoid your lender. They actually will help you.

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