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How to Remove a Lien That is Attached to Your Home

How to Remove a Lien That is Attached to Your Home

How to Remove a Lien That is Attached to Your Home 150 150 The Law Office of Nadia K. Kilburn

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If you’re trying to sell your home or complete some sort of refinance, it can be stressful to hear that you have a lien attached to your property.

If you have a lien attached to your home, at some point in the past, a creditor likely received a judgment against you for unpaid debt and then attached their interest in the unpaid debt to your home.

This means that, in order to complete your sale or refinanced, they will have to release their lien.

You will receive a lien release if you pay the amount you owe in full to the creditor OR if you negotiate a settlement with them and receive their approval (in writing!) to pay less than the total amount owed.

The good news is that you may be able to get the lien released for less than the amount owed. It can be tricky, but depending on the negotiability of the lien, it may be worth seeing if they will accept a settlement offer:

Here are the steps to getting your lien released:

  1. Locate your creditor and find out how much you owe.
  2. This can often be the most challenging part of lien negotiation. Creditors sell debt quickly and frequently so it can sometimes be challenging to locate the creditor that is handling the debt, especially if the judgment is more than a year old. Sometimes, locating the creditor requires cold calling debt collection companies until you find the one that took it. Sometimes, locating the creditor requires following a chain of services releases until you find the creditor that has ownership over the debt.
  3. Once you know how much you owe, your next step is to:
  4. Figure out whether it is worth it to try and negotiate the lien or judgment.
  5. Some liens are negotiable and some aren’t. If there is a chance that you can pay the lien off for less than you owe, you want to take advantage of that opportunity but if the lien is not negotiable, you want to know that up front so you don’t waste time.
  6. If you’re able to pay the amount, you believe you owe the money and the fees added seem reasonable to you – you will pay the creditor and receive your lien release.
  7. If you do not have the funds or believe the amount should be negotiated, your next step is to:
  8. Negotiate with the creditor.
  9. Negotiation is an art. Simply saying to your bank “can I pay you less than what I owe?” will likely cause the creditor to just say “no, we want full payment.” You need someone to look at what you have going on financially to figure out how to request your settlement in the most persuasive way.
  10. Sometimes, this involves drafting a persuasive hardship letter outlining why you do not have the funds to pay the amount in full. Other times, it may be beneficial to provide limited financial information to show the creditor that you have no funds to pay the full amount.
  11. Sometimes, timing is the key to getting a lien settled.
  12. Depending on what you have going on with regards to the value of your home and individual financial situation, your strategy will change so make sure you run this by an experienced negotiator.
  13. Note: The worst thing you can do is provide all of your financial information to a creditor if your financial information shows that you have plenty of money to settle the debt. If this is the case, you will want to take a different tactic.
  14. Once the creditor replies, you’ll want to:
  15. Figure out if you’ve been offered a “good settlement.”
  16. Creditors are in the business of taking advantage of you in order to get the most money possible. If you’re trying to negotiate by yourself, they may make you an offer for settlement early in the process but it’s hard to know if you should continue negotiating or take the deal. It’s helpful if you have someone helping you who knows when you’re being offered something reasonable or when you’re being made a “first offer” that should be pushed back on.
  17. Use the negotiation timeline to your advantage.
  18. Some creditors are very motivated to settle because they get financial incentives to settle quickly and close their files. Other creditors are small, disorganized, and unmotivated by time considerations. If you’re looking at completing a sale of your home or a refinance, you will need to know how long it will take to complete the settlement process so you can decide whether it’s worth it to you to try or whether you’d rather pay them off and move on.

If you have a lien attached to your home and would like to chat about your options, feel free to give me a call at (425) 654-1674.

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    4 Comments
    • I am selling my home and just learned that I have an old credit card lien on title. I’m not sure what to do. Can I reach out to them now and try to settle it? Or do I wait and have escrow work with them?

      • Nadia Kilburn, Attorney at Law November 5, 2021 at 9:12 am

        Hello! Thank you for your questions! It is always good to have an attorney consultation in your State before engaging with a creditor but generally speaking, there isn’t any downside to reaching out as soon as you can to give yourself the most time possible to negotiate. Escrow agents won’t be able to help you try and settle the debt. Escrow’s job is to get written documentation of the total amount owed to all creditors attached to the home but they aren’t able to advocate for you or try to negotiate on your behalf. So, if you want to try and settle, you can reach out to your creditor now with your settlement offer. If you’re a homeowner in Washington State and would like to chat further, feel free to give me a call at (425) 654-1674.

    • I had a lein placeed on my rental unit by a salvage guy who was not asked to remove trash. I had 3 cleanout agents scheduled to give me a price to remove a cleanout pile of debre. When the second agent arrived at the address , he called me asking where the debre was. Well it was apparently removed by the first agent without permission. After notifying the first agent he stated since I gave him my email address that constituted a agreement for him to proceed with removal. I gave all 3 agents my email address since that was the first form of comunication before any phone contact.
      I offered to pay him the agreed price $ 120.00 which was in line with all 3 phone quotes over the phone before any of the 3 agents viewed the pile. It wasnt that much trash. Then was later contacted that a lein for a much higher price was placed on the property. 250.00 .
      This agent was a scam obviously after doing my due diligents of getting 3 quotes.
      If I was sent any court documents . I wasnt aware any were sent or where they were sent to. Its been 2-3 yrs now since this happened.
      Any reply would be welcomed.
      Thank you.

      • Nadia Kilburn, Attorney at Law February 20, 2023 at 11:05 am

        Hi Doug – that’s a tough situation, so sorry! Since the amount is relatively small, you may want to look in to your state’s small claims court option. I would also recommend having a consultation with an attorney in your state to see what your options are to just settle the claim and get the person to remove their lien. Since the amount is relatively small, you may just be able to come to terms with the “creditor” (meaning come to some sort of settlement with them). If you get the settlement in writing and they agree to release their lien upon receipt of funds, this may work to get the lien off of Title. This is all just general advice though since I don’t know the specifics of the situation – your next step is a consultation with an attorney in your state!

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