Can Student Loans Put A Lien On Your House?

Banks, courts, the government, or IRS can place a lien on your property when you are late in paying a loan or taxes. A claim on your property means the claimant can seize your property and sell it as collateral for their claim against you.

If you’re wondering if the creditors who fund your , the answer is yes, they can. It’s rare, however. Thanks to deferment options, you can usually just contact your lender and ask for an extension. Of course, the interest will keep piling up. If your student loans were funded by a private organization (like a local credit union), you might need to fight that lien.

Unfortunately, fighting a lien on your own is never easy. DoNotPay can help you leverage both the law and the interests of the person against you to avoid having your property seized.

What Is a Lien?

A lien is a legal claim against your property such as a house, car, money in the account due to a debt that a claimant alleges you did not pay. The goal of the lien is to allow the claimant to take whatever property the court deems to be suitable collateral and sell it to recover the unpaid claim.

Can Student Loans Put a Lien On Your Home?

Statistics reveal over 3,000 people default on their federal student loans each day. Missing a student loan payment has far much more repercussions than a hurt credit score. The government is known to sue borrowers who default on their loans on occasion. If the federal government wins, they can place a lien on your house and even force a sale.

The government can also garnish income sources like:

Your Social Security check
Your federal tax refund, or
Disability benefits to recover their money

Who Else Might File a Lien Against My Property?

Apart from student loans, liens can be filed for many different reasons. These include:

Mortgage or car loans: If you are behind on your mortgage or car loans, the bank may place a lien on your property to recoup its cost.
IRS taxes: If you owe IRS taxes, the agency may place a lien on your property as a last resort to recover the taxes you owe.
Child support: If you owe child support or alimony, a court may put a lien on your property to make sure that these payments are made.
Contractor: If you owe money to a contractor. A court may place a lien on your property to ensure the claimant gets paid.

How to Check If I Have a Lien on My Property?

It is essential to check liens if you are behind on your repayments. There are two ways to see if a property has a lien, they’re explained in the table below.

Method	Details
Check your county records	Liens are matters of public record. Check with your county recorder, county clerk, or county assessor's office to see if the government has placed a lien on your property.
Use online lien search tools	Several companies offer title and property lien search tools. Try online search tools such as: US Title Records Courthouse Direct Property Shark
The county property appraiser website	You can also search your county's property appraiser's website.

How to Get a Lien Off Your House

You can on your property by taking the following steps:

Pay your debt. The easiest way to remove a lien is to pay off the balance of your debt. This allows you to file a Release of Lien form that will effectively remove the lien from your property.
Obtain a court order. Another alternative is to obtain a court order that will remove the lien. This can be a great option where the lien was obtained coercion, through fraud, bad faith, or any other illegal means
File bankruptcy (this does not work for federally-funded .)You can also file chapter 7 bankruptcy to remove a lien. However, this option is only available for specific types of liens, such as judicial liens.
Negotiate. You can also negotiate with the claimant in an excellent way to clear your debts. If both parties agree, a settlement could be worked out.
Wait for the statute of limitations to run out. Most liens have a statute of limitations. Each state has its law setting limits on how long a lien will run. Once time passes, the lien can be removed and viewed as unenforceable.

Remove a Lien With DoNotPay

The DIY methods to remove a lien are tedious and time-consuming. You can save your property through DoNotPay. DoNotPay can amass relevant information to your lien situation and send a letter to the creditor that placed a lien on your property requesting a renegotiation of the terms of your debt based on your needs.

In addition, we can fill out a Release of Lien form and send it to your creditor to sign, allowing you to get the lien off your record and out of mind once you renegotiate your debt. That way, you can move past your lien and secure your property.

Here is how to get started:

Search for remove my lien on DoNotPay.
Start our Remove My Lien product.
Answer some questions about your specific lien and let us help you craft a letter to your creditor to resolve the issue.

DoNotPay Can Help

The Department of Justice says over 3,300 student loan borrowers have received a court summons for defaulting in the past couple of years. Most times, the borrowers lose, thus giving a leeway for the government to place a lien on their home and even force a sale. If you are at risk of losing your house due to an , DoNotPay can help. Contact us today to learn more.