<prompt> Human: Having a few thousand in checking really saved my butt today.I got a call from a friend who works for the county this morning. They wanted to know if everything was ok, bc my house was set to go up for a tax lease sale tomorrow. I was astonished since the bank that holds my loan should have paid the tax. I purchased a new home last year and the tax is a part of my mortgage payment to be held in escrow. I called the tax rev office and was informed the tax bill was sent to my bank but not paid. I asked if the lease sale could be frozen or delayed while I work this out with my bank and was told no.The only thing that would keep my house from being offered up to someone else was to go to the revenue office and pay the tax bill today.I dropped the check off, confirmed with the county that my home is paid to date in full and the tax lease will not be offered for sale, and have spoke to the bank about receiving a refund from the escrow and removing them as the tax payer.So all is good with me, but I kept thinking what if I was 1 of the 40 of Americans that doesnt have savings? I could have lost my house over an error and a few thousand dollars.Now yes you get one more month to pay the tax bill, but that is after a lien on your credit, additional fees, and without having an emergency fund you may not put together a few thousand in 30 daysEDIT 1 - This has really blown up, which is good as it highlights the advantage of emergency funds for all of us short term thinkers, but there seems to be a lot of confusion about what could actually happen. I dont know if people are commenting without reading the body or people infer different things from lost today. So I will clarify, movers were not going to show up to my house today, but the county had no recourse to slow the process of listing the tax certificate for sale. So to me this is the blow that kills you before you actually die 20 mins later and some people are parsing words. The county lists the tax certificate for 30 days, after which they will process a sale this is a sale of the tax lien not the deed. 60 days later in August the certificate holder can push for foreclosure where your house can be auctioned. You will be offered a recourse to avoid foreclosure, but with each escalation the fees go up. Once you get to a demand letter to avoid foreclosure you are now incurring legal fees as well, so for someone without savings this can quickly get beyond their ability to correct. So is the house lost once a ball is rolling that you cant stop or do you have to wait until you are out of the house to say its lost? I find the later a little foolish and pedantic. The point is, keep a savings, dont over reach financially, and keep yourself out of situations that could turn because you didnt have enough to maintain the position.Assistant: Are you entitled to a little more from your bank for the situation? did you check your mortgage to check whos responsible for paying taxes?Human: They are supposed, but had a payment date of November this year. I purchased the new house last October so it seems like they missed that payment from escrow at the sale. I checked and 10 months did come out of the seller at closing.I will get a refund but nothing additional.  <response>: I would be PISSED, and probably would have just let the house go up for sale then smashed the bank for breach of contact 