The envelope usually arrives twice, once by regular mail and once by certified mail, and the first line inside says this is an important notice concerning your right to live in your home. If you are a few payments behind, that letter is a notice of right to cure, and in Massachusetts it is the formal starting point of the foreclosure timeline. The short version: you have at least 90 days from the notice before the lender can accelerate the loan or take any step to foreclose, you can stop the process by paying the past-due amount without the lender demanding the whole balance, and you are free to sell the house during that time.
It is a warning with a clock attached, not a foreclosure. Most people who receive one still have real choices. This article walks through what the letter means, what it must contain, what it costs to cure, and what your options look like if paying it is not realistic. It is general information, not legal advice, and a free HUD-approved housing counselor or a Massachusetts attorney should look at your actual notice.
Why you received it now
Federal mortgage servicing rules generally bar a servicer from making the first foreclosure notice or filing until the loan is more than 120 days delinquent. Massachusetts adds its own step on top of that. Under Massachusetts General Laws chapter 244, section 35A, a lender cannot accelerate the unpaid balance or “otherwise enforce the mortgage” until at least 90 days after it gives you written notice of the default and your right to cure it.
That protection applies to a mortgage on a one to four family home that is the principal residence of the owner. It is granted once in any five-year period, regardless of who holds the mortgage. So if you cured a default three years ago under a previous notice, this letter may carry less protection than it appears to, and that is worth raising with a counselor early.
What does a notice of right to cure mean in Massachusetts?
A notice of right to cure means your lender has declared the loan in default and is giving you a fixed window, at least 90 days, to bring the payments current before it can begin foreclosure. It is not a court filing, it does not mean an auction is scheduled, and it does not mean the house has been taken. It is the step the law requires before any of that can happen.
The notice counts as delivered when it is handed to you, or when it is sent by first class mail and certified mail to the address the lender last had on file for you. That detail matters for people who have moved out of the property or who stopped opening mail from the lender. The clock can be running even if you never read the letter.
The 150-day version
Some borrowers get 150 days instead of 90. Section 35B of the same chapter applies to what the law calls a “certain mortgage loan”, which includes loans with an introductory rate at least 2 percent below the fully indexed rate, interest-only payments, loans made without adequate income documentation, and loans with a very high loan-to-value ratio. For those loans the lender must also make a good faith effort at a modification before foreclosing. There is a catch: if you do not respond to the lender’s modification offer within 30 days, the extra time falls away and you are back to 90. The caption on the letter says which period applies to you.
What the letter has to include
Massachusetts does not let lenders write this letter any way they like. The Division of Banks explains in its right to cure notice FAQ that the notice must strictly conform to the form set out in the regulations, apart from the bracketed fill-in details. Each missed monthly payment must be listed separately with its date, and a specific person, not just a department, must be named as the contact.
Section 35A requires the notice to cover, among other things:
- The default the lender claims, and the date by which you must cure it
- What happens if you do not cure, and who to contact to dispute the amount
- The name and address of the mortgage broker or loan originator, if there was one
- Information about available assistance, and a statement that you may sell the property
- Your right to redeem the property by paying what is owed before a foreclosure sale, and the risk of eviction after one
- The possibility of options such as refinancing or a deed in lieu of foreclosure
If your letter is missing pieces, has the wrong dates, or lumps the missed payments together, that is exactly the kind of thing an attorney or counselor will want to see. The lender also has to file a copy of the notice in any later foreclosure and certify that it complied, so errors in this letter can matter later.
What it actually costs to cure
The cure amount is the past-due payments, not the full loan. The statute says you cure “by full payment of all amounts that are due without acceleration.” You can be charged late fees the law allows and per-diem interest, but not a fee or penalty for exercising the right to cure itself, and not the lender’s attorney’s fees incurred before or during the notice period.
One practical point from the Division of Banks trips people up: the figure in the letter is what was past due on the date it was written. Payments that come due during the 90 days are added on top. A family that saves exactly the number on the letter can still fall short on day 90.
Your options while the clock runs
Most people who get this letter end up on one of four roads. The right one depends on whether the shortfall was temporary and whether the payment is affordable going forward.
| Option | Best fit | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Cure in full | A short setback, and the regular payment is affordable again | Payments falling due during the window are added to the total |
| Modification or repayment plan | Income recovered but not enough to pay a lump sum | Apply early and keep copies of everything you send |
| Sell the house | The payment is no longer realistic, and there is equity to protect | Allow time for title, municipal certificates and the payoff |
| Short sale or deed in lieu | Owe more than the house is worth | Can leave a balance owed or tax consequences, so ask a professional first |
The Attorney General’s office makes the same point on its preventing foreclosure page: free, trained advisers can walk you through these options, and anyone who asks for an upfront fee to stop a foreclosure deserves suspicion. A good place to start is the HUD housing counselor search, which lists approved agencies in Massachusetts.
Selling during the cure period
The notice itself must tell you that you may sell the property, and many owners do. Selling does not require the lender’s permission when the house is worth more than what is owed. The mortgage is paid off from the proceeds at closing, the default goes away with the loan, and whatever equity remains goes to you instead of being eaten by foreclosure costs.
Timing is the part people underestimate. Behind on payments or under financial pressure describes roughly 15 percent of the sellers who contact us, and in our experience the calendar is usually tighter than they expect. A cash sale with us typically takes two to four weeks from a signed agreement to funds, assuming title is clean and there are no unusual estate issues. Our fastest was about seven days, and that was a vacant house with clean title, which is the exception. We do not promise a date until the title has actually been checked, because the most common surprise we find is an old lien or mortgage that everyone assumed had been paid off.
Not every borrower behind on payments gets this specific letter first. Some are instead offered a forbearance plan by their servicer before any default notice goes out, which pauses or reduces payments temporarily rather than starting this 90 day clock. The two are not interchangeable, and selling a house in forbearance in Massachusetts works differently from selling during a cure period, since the payoff mechanics and the timeline depend on which one you actually received.
The other surprise is at the closing table. Sellers tend to expect the offer price as a check. What arrives is the price minus the mortgage payoff, prorated property taxes, municipal charges, any outstanding water and sewer balance, and attorney and title costs. When you are behind on the mortgage, the payoff will include the missed payments and interest, so ask the lender for a written payoff figure early and run the numbers before you choose a route.
If the 90 days have already passed, you still have time. An owner can sell right up until the auction is complete, which we cover in our guide to selling your house before a foreclosure auction. For a wider look at how a sale fits alongside the other options, see how selling for cash can help when you are facing foreclosure.
Questions owners ask after the letter arrives
Does the 90 days start when I open the letter?
No. It is measured from when the notice is delivered, which the law treats as the day it is handed to you or sent by first class and certified mail to your last known address. The cure date printed on the letter is the one to plan around.
Can I still apply for a loan modification after the 90 days?
Often, yes. The Attorney General’s office notes you can apply for a modification with your servicer even if you did not receive a separate modification notice. Applying earlier gives you more room, so do not wait for the deadline.
Will curing the default fix my credit?
Curing stops the foreclosure process, but the late payments already reported usually stay on your credit history. A housing counselor can explain what recovery typically looks like.
If you have weighed the options and selling is the one that makes sense, you can ask for a cash offer on your house and compare it against the payoff and the other routes before deciding anything.
Homeowners We’ve Helped
Boston Investors
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After 94 days on the market, two buyers backed out over the roof and septic. We were tired of dealing with it. The cash offer came without asking us to make the repairs, and we closed in 21 days. Once we looked at the actual numbers, it made much more sense than continuing to list. The whole process was simple and we’re very happy with how it worked out.
