No Waiver

• The right of redemption is a statutory right provided under state law. Importantly, state laws also provide that a mortgage borrower cannot waive the right of redemption in advance. This means that mortgage loan documents cannot include a waiver or forfeiture of the right of redemption. If such a provision is in the mortgage loan documents, that provision is not enforceable.
  
  

Reinstatement

• State laws provide different types of redemption rights. The first type of redemption right is reinstatement. The right to reinstate means the mortgage borrower can stop foreclosure by reinstating the mortgage loan. To reinstate the mortgage loan requires sufficient payment to bring the mortgage current. A reinstatement payment will include due but unpaid monthly principal payments, interest, penalties and foreclosure costs incurred by the lender. Borrowers forfeit their reinstatement rights only after they fail to reinstate the mortgage before the reinstatement period provided under state law expires.
  
  

Pre-sale Redemption

• State laws also generally allow mortgage borrowers to avoid foreclosure by fully redeeming the mortgage loan before the foreclosure sale. To fully redeem a mortgage loan means to pay the full outstanding balance on the mortgage, not just the delinquent balance as is required for reinstatement. Redemption means paying off the mortgage loan entirely, including all principal, interest, penalties and lender costs so that the lender no longer has any legal interest in the mortgage or the mortgagor's property. A borrower forfeits the right of pre-sale redemption only by failing to redeem before the foreclosure sale happens.
  
  

Statutory Redemption

• Some states provide a third redemption right to mortgage borrowers, which is the right to redeem the property within a certain amount of time after a foreclosure sale occurs. In Utah, for example, a borrower has up to 180 days after a judicial foreclosure sale to redeem the mortgage and reclaim the property by paying off the foreclosure sales price, plus a 6 percent premium. A borrower forfeits the statutory redemption right only by allowing the statutory time period to expire without making a redemption payment to the mortgage lender.