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How we can help

If you are struggling to pay your mortgage, missed mortgage payment or property tax payments, reach out to us using our TRW page and a Housing Counselor will call you to discuss your individual situation. This is FREE of charge and information collected is never shared with other organizations without your permission.

Property Tax Info

If you miss paying your property taxes by the due date you will begin to see penalties and interest accrued. It varies by county but minimally is 12%. Even if you miss your payment, you can still send money to your Treasurer. Continue to send as much as you can each month.

State Statutes

74.47 Interest and penalty on delinquent amounts.

(1) INTEREST. The interest rate on delinquent general property taxes, special charges, special assessments and special taxes included in the tax roll for collection is one percent per month or fraction of a month.

(2) PENALTY ALLOWED.

(a) Any county board and the common council of any city authorized to act under s. 74.87(link is external) may by ordinance impose a penalty of up to 0.5% per month or fraction of a month, in addition to the interest under sub. (1)(link is external), on any delinquent general property taxes, special assessments, special charges and special taxes included in the tax roll.

Property Tax Resources

Property tax relief Credits Explained
Understanding Wisconsin’s Lottery & Game Tax Credit
Understanding Your Property Tax Bill
Property Tax FAQ
WCTA Taxpayer Outreach
Foundation for Rural Housing – if 3 years behind and can afford making your property tax payments

WHEDA property tax deferral program:

Provides loans to qualifying elderly homeowners to help pay for property taxes
Principal and interest are repaid when you transfer ownership of your home or move from your home
Loan becomes a lien against your property
Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) operates this program

For more information, contact:

Property Tax Deferral Loan Program, WHEDA

PO Box 1728, Madison, WI 53701-1728

(800) 755-7835

If you still need help understanding programs available or help applying for any of these programs reach out to our Housing Counselor from our Housing Help form. We are happy to answer any questions!

Additional Resources

We are excited to share two newer Legal Aid resources funded in part by one of DCF’s contracted agencies, WisTAF. WisTAF’s mission is to work with civil legal aid organizations in Wisconsin to increase access to justice. As part of that mission WisTAF and their partner organizations recognized a need for expanding individuals access to legal guidance without the need for an attorney.

https://wislawhelp.org/ this is a user-friendly website, created by Judicare Legal Aid that individuals can visit to better understand the legal process of whatever situation they are dealing with. It has links to different forms they may need to fill out as well as provides step by step instruction in an easy-to-understand manner.

Legal Tune Up– The Legal tune up tool, built by LIFT, or Legal Interventions for Transforming Wisconsin, was formed by lawyers and nonprofit leaders who wanted to create resources to address the access to justice crisis in their state. Leveraging the state’s public databases like Wisconsin Circuit Court Access, commonly referred to as CCAP, they have developed free, web-based tools that allow users to identify and solve some of their civil legal issues without assistance from a lawyer. In accessing this tool, individuals can look themselves up to see what outstanding legal issues they have pending. Some they may not even know about. It then connects them with someone who can help them in matters such as, updating their child support order, getting evictions off of their record if the case was dismissed etc. to learn more about this tool you can also listen in at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLh2au8NgHk

Foreclosure Timeline in Wisconsin Sheet