Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Ohio

In Ohio, the mortgage is not the obligation to pay. The note that you signed with the lender is the obligation to pay. The mortgage is only a possession interest in your property that secures the obligation to pay. A lender does not have to foreclose in order to collect. But a judgment for several thousand dollars is only a piece of paper unless it is secured by something like a mortgage. So the best practice for the lender would be to join in the foreclosure action and pursue its interests against you in the court where the other lender filed its foreclosure action.

It is not strictly necessary that the second lender join the foreclosure lawsuit, but it does not make sense for it not to. Further, there are some civil rules which state that claims for relief that arise out of the same common nucleus of fact should be joined in the same lawsuit. So there might be a defense to a second lawsuit by the second mortgage lender if it did not join in the foreclosure action (of which it would almost certainly have had notice since the first mortgage holder is required to put all of the other mortgage holders on notice.