The Act 91 Notice in Pennsylvania: What It Is and How to Use It
By Stop Foreclosures PA • Updated July 17, 2026
An Act 91 notice is the formal warning Pennsylvania law requires most mortgage lenders to send before filing a foreclosure lawsuit on your primary residence. It is named for Act 91 of 1983, the law that created the Homeowners' Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP). The notice tells you the lender intends to foreclose — and, more importantly, it unlocks your right to apply for a state loan that can bring your mortgage current.
If you just received an Act 91 notice: you have 33 days to act, and acting can freeze the foreclosure. Here's exactly what to do.
What the Act 91 Notice Says
The notice must identify your default, state the amount needed to cure it, and inform you of your right to have a face-to-face meeting with a consumer credit counseling agency to discuss HEMAP. It usually arrives together with the Act 6 Notice of Intention to Foreclose in a combined 'Act 6/91' notice.
How to Use an Act 91 Notice to Stop Your Foreclosure
The Act 91 notice starts a clock that works in your favor if you act:
- Step 1 — Within 33 days: Contact a participating consumer credit counseling agency (the notice includes a list) and schedule a face-to-face meeting. Doing this pauses the lender's ability to proceed while your HEMAP application is pending.
- Step 2 — The agency helps you prepare a HEMAP application to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA), documenting that your hardship is temporary and beyond your control (job loss, medical event, divorce, etc.).
- Step 3 — PHFA decides your application. If approved, HEMAP makes a loan that brings your mortgage current and, if needed, helps with ongoing payments (up to program limits, generally up to 24 months of assistance). The foreclosure stops.
- Step 4 — If denied, you can appeal — and the foreclosure remains paused during a timely appeal.
HEMAP Eligibility Basics
HEMAP is a loan, not a grant — it's repaid over time, secured by a lien on your home. To qualify you generally must occupy the home as your primary residence, be suffering a temporary hardship through no fault of your own, and show a reasonable prospect of resuming full payments within the program window. Not everyone qualifies: if your income loss looks permanent, or the arrears are too deep, PHFA will deny the application.
If HEMAP Isn't a Fit, the Notice Still Buys You Time
Even when a HEMAP application is a long shot, the 33-day counseling window and application review period give you time — time to negotiate a modification, catch up through other means, or sell the home before a complaint is ever filed. A sale at this early stage almost always nets you more than one made days before a sheriff sale, because fewer months of interest, fees, and legal costs have piled onto your payoff.
If you'd like to know what your home would bring in a fast as-is sale, we'll give you up to three options within 24 hours — no obligation.
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