If you’ve been served with a Philadelphia foreclosure case, a free meeting with your lender — arranged by the court itself — may be the turning point you didn’t know was coming.
You’re not alone. If a foreclosure case has just been filed against your home in Philadelphia, there’s a built-in step in the process that a lot of homeowners never hear about until it’s already helped them: a free, court-arranged chance to sit down with your lender before anything is decided.
What’s actually happening
When a mortgage company starts a foreclosure on a home someone is living in as their primary residence, Philadelphia County doesn’t send that case straight to a Sheriff Sale (the public auction where a foreclosed home is sold). Local court rule requires most of these cases to go through the Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program first — a process the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas built specifically to slow things down and give homeowners a real shot at working something out.
At the center of it is a Conciliation Conference: a scheduled meeting — often by phone or video — where you and someone from your mortgage company talk through what’s possible, with a housing counselor sitting beside you the whole time.
What the process looks like
- You get a court date, not a deadline to panic over. The conference is scheduled automatically once the case enters the program — you don’t have to request it.
- A free housing counselor is assigned to help you. They work for you, not the bank. They’ll help you gather pay stubs, bank statements, and hardship documents, and help you understand any loan modification or repayment plan your lender offers.
- The Sheriff Sale is put on hold while this process plays out, which means real time to think instead of a countdown.
- Interpreters are available at the conference if English isn’t your first language, and Spanish-speaking counselors can help you prepare beforehand.
Free resources first
- Save Your Home Philly Hotline — 215-334-4663 (215-334-HOME). Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Run by Philadelphia Legal Assistance in partnership with the City of Philadelphia, this hotline can answer questions about your specific case and connect you with a free housing counselor before your conference date. Call outside business hours and leave a message — a housing advocate will call you back.
- The court-assigned housing counselor who attends your conference with you, at no cost.
- Philadelphia Legal Assistance can also help if your case raises legal questions you’re not sure how to answer — again, free.
Since the diversion program began, it’s helped save more than 17,000 homes in Philadelphia. That’s not a guarantee of any particular outcome, but it’s a good reason to show up to that conference instead of letting the date pass by.
A calm next step
You don’t have to choose between handling this entirely on your own and giving up. Once you’ve talked with your free housing counselor, some homeowners find a loan modification is the right fit. Others realize their situation calls for a different path — a leaseback, a fair cash offer, or another option entirely. If you’d like to explore what that could look like alongside what the diversion program offers, that’s a conversation we’re glad to have, with no pressure either way.
Schedule your free, pressure-free Strategy Session at WayOutNow.com.
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