Foreclosure Laws in South Carolina
The majority of foreclosures that take place in South Carolina are judicial foreclosures. Do you think that you may be involved in a foreclosure lawsuit in the near future—due to missed payments on your mortgage loan -— or did you just get the first notice telling you that it is coming? If so, you need to know how the process works. The overall goal for the lender is to reclaim your home and auction it off, but there are some things that you can do.
Declaring Bankruptcy
For example, you might want to consider putting in a bankruptcy filing. Perhaps your other debt makes it impossible to pay your mortgage. The foreclosure will be set on hold while the bankruptcy takes place, both buying you some time and allowing you to get rid of that other debt. This may give you enough income to pay your mortgage, and you can catch back up and keep your house. However, you absolutely must know that bankruptcy itself will not allow you to erase your mortgage and still keep the home. If you do keep it, you are still obligated to send in your standard mortgage payments.
Response Times and Notices
It was earlier mentioned that you may have gotten a notice that a foreclosure lawsuit was filed. If this has happened and the process is now in motion, you can respond to it within the next 30 days. Once a judgement is given out in the case, the notice of sale is going to be published for three consecutive weeks. Only after this is done can the home be sold.
Reinstating Your Loan
Once the lawsuit has been filed, the laws in South Carolina do not give you any guarantees that you can try to reinstate the loan. Of course, you may be given this option by your lender or in your mortgage papers. If so, you can even up the debt and the loan may be reinstated. That is at the discretion of the lender. The law also does not give you any sort of redemption period after the sale.
Military Members Get No Protections
There are federal protections for some military members, but the state laws do not give any to the members of the National Guard. This means that a foreclosure can begin if you are called to duty. In other states, lenders have to wait until your active duty ends, but not in South Carolina.
Ten Days for Evictions
When the judgement has been made, you will be evicted from the home. This cannot happen instantly, however. South Carolina law does say that you have to be given a notice and then ten days to leave the home.
Exercising Your Rights
No matter what part of this whole foreclosure process you are dealing with right now, it may be wise to talk to a legal professional if you want to learn more about what rights you have or if you want to learn how to exercise those rights.