Everyone procrastinates from time to time, but procrastination and forgetfulness for homeowners can cause serious trouble. Forgetting to make the house payment, pay property taxes or pay hazard insurance results in a notice of default.

If your insurance lapses or is canceled, the lender may find out about it and send a notice of default. Lenders have the right to replace the insurance and bill you for the cost. If you promptly reimburse the lender, the default is considered cured and the notice is canceled.

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A partial payment to your lender is the same as no payment. Lenders are not required to accept partial payments. Unfortunately, they usually don’t. A partial payment usually occurs when you forget to include a penalty fee for a prior late payment. It also occurs when your ARM’s interest rate adjusts upwards and you fail to pay the increased amount.

Here are some practical suggestions to help avoid these problems:

• Use an electronic bill paying service. The service will automatically send your mortgage payment from your checking account to the lender. Most major banks, such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America offer this service. Check with your bank for availability and cost. Some banks offer this service for free so it may pay to shop around.
• Review your Statements. You should check your statement monthly. Make sure the automatic payment is adjusted for any change in the interest rate.
• Keep your statements. Many of us throw our statement in the trash after we write the mortgage check. But there’s a reason why we shouldn’t. Unless we keep our statements, we’ll have a tough time fixing the default. Your record keep should be organized—it is much easier to figure out what when wrong and how much you owe.

P.S. On nearly every page I remind my readers to monitor their credit score. I do that because one of the most serious consequences of foreclosure is damaged credit. The first step to protect your credit is to review your credit report (you can get a free credit report here).