Active-duty servicemembers could get longer foreclosure protection

In Rhode Island, a homeowner facing a power-of-sale foreclosure could get the warning letter a different way. The bill rewrites the state’s mortgage foreclosure law so lenders could send notice by first-class mail or overnight delivery instead of certified mail with return receipt requested.

The basic public notice stays: lenders would still have to publish the sale in a newspaper once a week for three straight weeks, with the first notice at least 21 days before the sale. Recorded votes show the bill cleared a floor vote.

A longer shield for servicemembers

The other change reaches active-duty servicemembers. The bill would extend that protection window to one year after active duty or deployment, and a borrower or representative could ask a court to pause the case or adjust the obligation if the lender moves ahead anyway.

The mailed notice would also have to spell out those servicemember rights, so they are harder to miss in the pile of foreclosure paperwork.