The Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program is a special process for mortgage foreclosure cases in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County.

Mortgage foreclosure

What is mortgage foreclosure? If you don’t make your mortgage payments, your mortgage company can sell your house at a public auction called a “sheriff sale” in order to recover what you owe. This is called “foreclosure.”

In Pennsylvania, mortgage companies have to file a lawsuit against the homeowner. This lawsuit is called a mortgage foreclosure lawsuit. The court will make a judgment either in favor of the mortgage company or in favor of the owner. The mortgage company cannot ask the Sheriff to sell a home unless it has a judgment from the court.

What the Diversion Program does

The Diversion Program requires that before the judgment is made, there must be a “conciliation conference” where the homeowner and the mortgage company can have a chance to work out an agreement. It is called a “diversion program” because the normal lawsuit process is “diverted,” or turns away from its ordinary course, in order for this conciliation conference to happen.

These conciliation conferences are always scheduled for a Thursday at either 9 a.m. or 1 p.m., and they always take place in Room 676, with a Zoom option as well. The first conference is scheduled about 60 days after the case is initially filed.

If the homeowner does not show up for the conciliation conference, the case goes back to its ordinary course, and the mortgage company can get a judgment in its favor.

If the homeowner does attend the first conciliation conference, the court can schedule another conference in the future.

The homeowner can “attend” the conciliation conference by joining the Zoom link or by physically going to Room 676. However, if the homeowner has met with a housing counselor, in most cases the housing counselor can attend the conference for the homeowner, and the homeowner does not need to be there.

The benefit of the Diversion Program to the homeowner

The Diversion Program gives the homeowner time to apply for a loan modification, which could make the monthly payment more affordable, or for mortgage assistance, such as a HEMAP loan.

The homeowner doesn’t go through this process alone. Housing counselors help the homeowner apply for these programs, and they go with the homeowner to the conciliation conference. A network of about 25 non-profits throughout the City provide housing counselors to assist homeowners in the Diversion Program, under a contract with the City of Philadelphia’s Division of Housing and Community Development.

Since a foreclosure case is a lawsuit, there are legal advocates available to assist homeowners, too. Philadelphia Legal Assistance, a non-profit legal services organization, operates the [Save Your Home Philly Hotline], which any homeowner can call to get answers to questions about foreclosure and to be referred to a housing counselor. In addition, attorneys from Community Legal Services and Philadelphia Legal Assistance are present in the courtroom (in person or virtually) at every conciliation conference to answer questions and help resolve difficult and unusual situations.