Americans are increasingly inquiring about help with home foreclosure issues, data from attorney services platform LegalShield shows.
LegalShield publishes a quarterly report on its Consumer Stress Legal Index, an economic indicator that tracks financial stress on US households, based on data from over 150,000 monthly calls with attorneys.
The most recent update found that legal requests related to foreclosure have reached their highest level since March 2020, the month when the COVID-19 pandemic thrashed the US economy.
“Most economic stress measures tell you how people feel,” Matt Layton, SVP of consumer analytics at Legalshield told Business Insider. “The CSLI tells you what they do. When a household calls a lawyer about their mortgage or their debt, that is not sentiment — that is a decision made under real financial pressure.”
The CSLI included data that show how bad the housing market may be under the surface. The Foreclosure Index jumped 13.4% in March 2026 and is up 20% year-to-date.
It’s also not just foreclosures that are rising. Legalshield’s Bankruptcy Index has more than doubled since 2022 and rose steadily in the first quarter of this year.
“Together, the indexes paint a picture of households under pressure from multiple directions: insurance and tax-driven payment shock on the housing side, and persistent debt stress beyond it,” a statement from Legahshield said.
Mortgage rates have declined over the past year, falling from 7% to below 6.5%, according to data from Freddie Mac. While this has allowed more buyers to stretch their budgets, the spike in foreclosures suggests that an increasing number of buyers may have entered into mortgages they can’t afford.
Attorney Chris Peoples noted that many homeowners seek legal help only when their circumstances become dire and time-sensitive, not when problems are just beginning. The fact that so many people are actively trying to find lawyers right now points to a broad shift in market conditions.
Layton noted that historically, when legal calls surge, court filings aren’t usually far behind. If more and more consumers are facing foreclosure and bankruptcy, it could be a harbinger of worse things to come.
“At this point, it is less about rising stress and more about households reaching the point where outside help becomes unavoidable,” Layton added.