Stage 1 of 4 · The Paperwork Behind the Loan

Acceleration

The lender's decision to declare the entire loan balance due at once because of a default.

In plain English
Acceleration turns a problem of a few missed payments into a demand for the whole balance. Before it, the borrower owes the arrears; after it, the borrower owes everything.
Example
A homeowner is three payments behind, and the lender accelerates, so the demand jumps from about nine thousand dollars to the full remaining balance.
Why it matters
It changes what a borrower must find to stop the sale, and in many states it is the formal step that must happen before a notice can be recorded.
Remember it as
Miss three, owe all of it.

Where it lands in the timeline

An old accordion file box sits open on a hall closet shelf, blank tabbed folders standing inside and a house key resting on the lid, late sun raking across it, Temecula CA.

Stage 1: The Paperwork Behind the Loan

Every foreclosure is already written into the papers signed at closing, so this phase reads the fine print before the fine print reads you.

Every term in the Foreclosure Glossary →

Learning the words is step one. Beating the date is step two.

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