ROCK HILL Starting Monday, courts throughout South Carolina will do what a York County judge has done unofficially for two years - make sure homeowners are given a clear chance to modify delinquent mortgages before proceeding with foreclosure.

Since 2009, "I've been telling lenders there won't be a foreclosure until the debtor gets an answer on modification, until that process is complete," said Jack Kimball, York County's master-in-equity, the judge who hears all foreclosure cases.

Jean Toal, chief justice of the state Supreme Court, ordered that lawyers for lenders must certify homeowners were given that chance. She took the step because trial courts reported a breakdown in communications between lenders and the people owing them money.

Homeowners were trying to talk to their lenders about what they could do at the same time lenders were telling their attorneys to proceed with foreclosure. Frequently, homeowners were frustrated with lenders, feeling they could not get straight answers to questions.

"People have been trying to work with banks, but the banks don't want to work with them," said J. Cameron Halford, a Fort Mill lawyer who usually represents homeowners in foreclosure cases.

The lack of straight answers, Halford said, is because lenders have not been properly trained on how to do a federal Home Affordable Modification Program application.

"It leads," he said, "to the breakdown in communication."

Lloyd Hendricks, chief executive officer of the South Carolina Bankers Association, said banks in the state will comply with the Toal's order.

The expectation is that Toal's order will give homeowners a second chance to avoid foreclosure, and to "potentially alleviate the already strained court system processing the cases," Toal wrote.

The order covers residential, owner-occupied properties only.

The reality, however, is the order - which covers cases in foreclosure as of May 9 and any new cases - will slow a system even more, Kimball said. He said he already has a backlog of between 600 and 700 cases awaiting information from lenders.

Toal's action will also mean suspending foreclosure sales for June, he said.