You Received an Act 91 Notice in Pennsylvania. Here Is What It Actually Means.
An Act 91 notice arrives in a plain envelope and reads like a form letter, which is exactly why so many homeowners set it aside. It is not a lawsuit and it is not a sale notice. It is a Pennsylvania-specific warning that opens a short window — and once that window closes, one of the better options available to Pennsylvania homeowners closes with it.
What Act 91 requires
Under Pennsylvania's Act 91 of 1983, before a lender can begin foreclosure on most owner-occupied residential mortgages, it must send you a notice of homeowner's emergency assistance. The notice tells you that you are in default, states roughly what is owed, and gives you 30 days to meet face to face with a HUD-approved consumer credit counseling agency.
That meeting is the point. It is free, it is not a sales pitch, and it is the required first step toward the Homeowner's Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP), administered by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.
The 30 days are real
Miss the 30-day window and the HEMAP door closes for this default. Nothing else in Pennsylvania foreclosure practice reopens it. Meanwhile, the clock on everything else keeps running: federal servicing rules generally bar the first legal filing until you are 120 days delinquent, so an Act 91 notice usually means the complaint is a couple of months out, not years.
What to do this week
- Call a HUD-approved counseling agency and book the meeting. Do it before you have your finances figured out — they will help with that part.
- Keep the envelope and the notice. The date matters, and improper or missing Act 91 notice is a defense that occasionally matters in litigation.
- Gather your last six months of income records, your most recent mortgage statement, and a rough list of other debts.
- Do not pay anyone an upfront fee to "handle" the notice. Legitimate counseling is free.
What Act 91 does not do
It does not stop interest, fees, or the underlying default. It does not obligate the servicer to modify your loan. And it does not protect a scheduled sheriff sale, because at this stage there is not one yet — that is precisely the advantage of acting now.
If your hardship is not temporary, or your income no longer supports the payment, HEMAP is unlikely to be the answer and the honest conversation is about Chapter 13's ability to cure arrears over three to five years, or about a controlled exit. I would rather have that conversation with you now than the week of a sale.
If you received an Act 91 notice and want a straight read on which route fits, call (717) 724-7503. The consultation is free.