If a foreclosure case has already been filed against you, Pennsylvania law may already give you a free seat at the table before anything is decided.
You’re not alone, and a court case being filed doesn’t mean your home is gone. In much of Pennsylvania — Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware, and Chester counties among them — homeowners facing a mortgage foreclosure lawsuit have the right to ask for a free foreclosure mediation conference (sometimes called a conciliation conference) before a judge ever rules on the case.
What’s actually happening
Once a lender files a foreclosure complaint, many Pennsylvania counties pause the court process and require both sides to sit down first — you, a housing counselor, and someone from your lender’s legal team — to see if there’s a way to avoid a judgment altogether. This meeting is the mediation (or conciliation) conference. It isn’t a trial and it isn’t a deadline to “fix” everything on your own. It’s a structured, no-cost chance to put your full situation on the table — income, hardship, paperwork — with a free housing counselor sitting next to you, before the case moves any further. It’s normal to feel a mix of relief and nervousness once a date is actually on the calendar; most homeowners say the hardest part was the uncertainty beforehand, not the conversation itself.
What to expect at the conference
- You’ll get a court notice with a date. It usually arrives a few weeks after the lawsuit is filed, giving you real time to prepare rather than react.
- A free HUD-approved housing counselor can sit with you. Reaching out to one before the date means you walk in with your documents organized and a plan already outlined.
- The lender has to show up too. Their attorney is required to have someone with authority to discuss a repayment plan, loan modification, or other resolution — not just to observe.
- Nothing is decided against you at the conference itself. It’s a conversation, not a ruling. If no agreement is reached, the case simply continues, and you still have the same legal protections you had before.
Free resources first
- Your county’s Prothonotary or court self-help center can confirm whether your county runs a mediation program and what your notice means.
- A free HUD-approved housing counselor — through PHFA’s counseling network — will help you prepare for the conference at no cost.
- PA Legal Aid Network offers free legal help if you’re unsure about deadlines, paperwork, or what to say at the conference.
- PA 211 (dial 211) can point you to the right office in your specific county.
None of these cost anything, and showing up prepared — even with just a folder of your mortgage statements and a call to a counselor beforehand — tends to make the biggest difference in how the conference goes. A counselor can also help you think through what you’d actually like to happen, whether that’s catching up on payments, a modified plan, or a different path for your home altogether, so you walk in with a goal instead of just a date on a calendar.
A calm next step
While a free counselor works through repayment or modification options with you, Way Out Now can walk through the rest of the picture alongside you — whether that means finding a way to keep the home or exploring what selling on your terms could look like instead. Either way, the mediation conference is there to give you more time and more information, not less.
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