Free foreclosure help for Minneapolis homeowners who are behind on the mortgage
If you have missed a mortgage payment, or know you will miss the next one, the first call to make is to a free foreclosure prevention advisor. These are nonprofit counselors who deal with your loan servicer for you, and several have offices inside the city. There is no charge for their help, at any income.
Calling early matters more in Minnesota than in many states, because most lenders here can foreclose without going to court. Once a sale date is set, the steps follow a fixed schedule, and an advisor has more tools to use before that date than after it.
This page covers the agencies and programs that specialize in helping people in Minneapolis and the rest of Hennepin County that are struggling to pay their mortgage. It includes the advisors themselves, the county and city money that may pay part of what is owed, free legal help, and the signs of a scam. Statewide programs are on the Minnesota mortgage help and foreclosure prevention page, and the counseling agencies across the state are listed on the page about HUD-certified housing counseling agencies across Minnesota.
- NOTE: Past-due property taxes, unpaid association dues, contract for deed sales and a reverse mortgage in default can each end with the loss of the home too. The page and options including the county emergency program above may help with taxes, an advisor can explain what an association is allowed to do, and LSS also offers reverse mortgage counseling.
The free advisors with offices in Minneapolis
Four of them belong to the Minnesota Homeownership Center's advisor network, which is the group of nonprofits the state funds to do this work. Their counselors are approved by HUD, and they normally do the same basic things: look at your whole budget, explain each option your servicer offers, help you fill out the modification or forbearance paperwork, and speak to the servicer on your behalf. You can start with whichever office is closest to you or speaks your language.
PRG, Inc. is in south Minneapolis at 2017 East 38th Street, and the phone number is 612-721-7556. See https://www.hocmn.org/advisor-agency/prg-inc/. It serves homeowners from anywhere in the seven-county metro and is open on weekdays. Its advisors work with people who are already behind and also with people who expect to fall behind after a job loss or an illness, which is the better time to call.
NeighborWorks Home Partners has a Minneapolis office at 1930 Glenwood Avenue on the near north side, and its main office is in St. Paul. Call 651-292-8710 for either location or see https://nwhomepartners.org/keep-home. Its advisors work on modifications, refinancing, and other ways to stay in the house, and the agency has Somali, Spanish, and Hmong speakers on staff.
CLUES, which stands for Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio, gives foreclosure advice in Spanish and English from its Minneapolis office inside the CareerForce Center at 777 East Lake Street. The office number is 612-746-3500, and the agency's housing hotline is 651-243-0688 and website is https://clues.org/services/economic-empowerment/housing-programs/. Its staff specialize in serving Latino families, but the advice is open to any homeowner.
LSS Financial Counseling, part of Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, has an office at 2400 Park Avenue in south Minneapolis and also counsels by phone or video anywhere in the state. Call 888-577-2227 or see https://www.lssmn.org/financialcounseling/financial-wellness-services/foreclosure-prevention-counseling. Its counselors can help with the hardship letter your servicer asks for and with the paperwork that delays a sheriff's sale, and the agency has Spanish and Hmong speakers plus sign language interpretation on request.
Build Wealth Minnesota, at 1256 Penn Avenue North on the north side, is a HUD-approved agency that the state's counseling directory also lists for foreclosure avoidance counseling. It is better known for its homebuyer classes and financial coaching, so ask for the counselor who handles missed mortgage payments when you call 612-877-4182. Its posted hours include Saturday mornings with the main site at https://bwealthe.org/.
If none of these fits, the Center's own line at https://www.hocmn.org/for-homeowners/foreclosure-prevention/ or call 651-659-9336, or 866-462-6466 toll free, can match you with an advisor anywhere in the metro. The St. Paul agencies in the same network will normally see Minneapolis homeowners too, and they are covered on the St. Paul foreclosure prevention page.
Minnesota rules an advisor can use on your behalf
Most foreclosures in the city happen without a judge. The servicer publishes a notice, the sale is scheduled at the county sheriff's office, and you should receive that notice about four weeks before the sale. Once the sale happens, bringing the loan current is normally no longer an option, so everything the advisor does is aimed at the weeks before that date. The Minnesota Attorney General's guide to facing mortgage foreclosure at https://www.ag.state.mn.us/consumer/publications/facingmortgageforeclosure.asp explains options as well as the process in plain terms.
County and city money that may cover part of what you owe
Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis fund a homeownership preservation program at https://hennepinhpp.com, run by the Minnesota Homeownership Center, that may pay past-due mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, association dues, or contract for deed payments directly to whoever is owed when it has money. The help goes to lower-income homeowners who first work with a network advisor. The rules are narrow and the funding is limited, so ask your advisor whether it is open before you plan around it, or call the program line at 651-236-8952.
Hennepin County's emergency assistance program is a separate source. It is a one-time crisis grant for county residents rather than a mortgage program, but a mortgage that is about to go to foreclosure is one of the emergencies it may cover, and so are past-due property taxes. You apply through the county rather than through an advisor, online at MNBenefits or by calling 612-596-1300 for a paper form, and a phone interview is part of the process. Who qualifies and how the program works are on the page about emergency assistance in Hennepin County.
Free legal help when the servicer or lender broke the rules
Counseling and legal representation are different things. If the servicer ignored your application, scheduled a sale anyway, added fees it cannot explain, or if the loan itself had predatory terms, a lawyer can do what an advisor cannot.
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (website: https://mylegalaid.org/get-legal-help/) may take a foreclosure case for a lower-income Hennepin County resident from its Minneapolis office at 111 North 5th Street, if you qualify and it has room to take the case. It also serves anyone 60 or older, and anyone living with a disability, at any income.
Apply by phone at 1-877-696-6529 or through the online intake form on the page linked above. The office front desk is closed on Fridays, but the phone line stays open that morning.
The Minnesota Attorney General's office takes complaints about mortgage servicers and foreclosure companies at 651-296-3353 in the Twin Cities calling area. More options, including help for people who do not qualify for Legal Aid, are on the page about free legal aid from lawyers in Minnesota.
Telling real help from a scam
Every organization named on this page counsels homeowners for free. Under Minnesota law, a foreclosure consultant cannot collect a fee from you until after it has done the work it promised, so anyone who wants money up front to stop a sale or arrange a modification is already breaking the law.
The other warning signs stay the same no matter who is calling. Be careful with anyone who promises the sale will be stopped, or who tells you to stop paying the servicer and send the money to them instead, and be just as careful with a request to sign the deed over and rent the house back. Two newer versions are companies that say they are backed by attorneys, who often turn out to be licensed in another state, and refinance calls from an "underwriter" who claims to be with your current lender.
Funding, rules, office hours, and phone numbers change without notice. Confirm details with the agency before relying on them, and treat any scheduled sale date as urgent.
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