What defense do I have to prevent foreclosure in Texas?

Your foreclosure defense Texas options are similar to options to defend foreclosure in any state. There are a few different strategies you can try to use in order to delay or defend a foreclosure action, and the appropriate strategy will depend on your situation. 

Defending a Foreclosure Action

Getting a foreclosure notice in the mail is never fun and it can be tempting to stick the delinquency notices from the lender on the back burner and not pay attention to them. This is the exact wrong thing to do. The first option should always to be try to call the lender and work things out. You may be able to explore options like deferring your payments for a brief time, renegotiating your mortgage or changing your payment structure in order to make the mortgage affordable to you. At worst, you may be able to arrange a short sale in order to sell the house yourself and keep the foreclosure off your record.

However, if this fails and you end up facing a foreclosure action and you can't work something out with the lender, there are a few possible defenses to consider:

• The first and most common defense is the "show the note" defense. This essentially involves asking the lender to produce the original loan documentation and/or promissory note that you signed that proves you owe the debt. If the lender can't find this right away, then this will buy you some time to get your finances in order or find alternatives to foreclosure, since they can't pursue the action unless they can show the note. If they never find the paperwork, then they may never be able to pursue the action at all
• You can also try to identify whether any truth in lending violations occurred. If they did, you may have leverage to get the bank or lender to work with you. 

Getting Help

There may also be additional options you can use to defend against the foreclosure in Texas, depending on your situation. You should strongly consider consulting with a lawyer to get help dealing with the foreclosure process.