There is no mortgage moratorium in California right now. The emergency rules that paused foreclosures during COVID-19 have all expired, and servicers are back to operating under the standard legal framework for delinquent loans.1National Consumer Law Center. COVID-19 State Foreclosure Moratoriums and Stays What California still offers is a layered set of borrower protections that slow the process down and force your servicer to consider alternatives before a sale. None of them trigger automatically. If you are behind on payments, you have to act.
What Happened to the Pandemic Protections
During COVID-19, California combined emergency court rules suspending judicial foreclosures, executive orders letting local governments regulate post-foreclosure evictions, and legislation requiring servicers to send specific written disclosures before denying forbearance requests. The last of those legislative requirements expired on December 1, 2021.1National Consumer Law Center. COVID-19 State Foreclosure Moratoriums and Stays
Nothing comparable has replaced them. A homeowner who falls behind today must contact their servicer and apply for loss mitigation; there is no statewide pause waiting in the background.
The 120-Day Federal Buffer Before Any Foreclosure Filing
Federal law sets the first and most important delay. Under Regulation X of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, a mortgage servicer cannot make the first filing required to start a foreclosure until the borrower is more than 120 days delinquent.2eCFR. 12 CFR 1024.41 – Loss Mitigation Procedures This applies to both judicial and non-judicial foreclosures.
Use that window. If you submit a complete loss mitigation application during the 120 days, the servicer cannot start the foreclosure until it has evaluated your application, told you the outcome, and either exhausted any appeal or confirmed you rejected the offered options.2eCFR. 12 CFR 1024.41 – Loss Mitigation Procedures Even after the foreclosure process begins, a complete application submitted more than 37 days before a scheduled sale blocks the servicer from going forward with that sale until your application is resolved.
California’s Pre-Foreclosure Protections
California’s Homeowner Bill of Rights adds requirements on top of the federal rules. Before a servicer can record a Notice of Default, which is the document that formally opens the foreclosure, it must satisfy several obligations under Civil Code 2923.55.
Required Contact
The servicer has to contact you by phone or in person to discuss your financial situation and options for avoiding foreclosure. During that conversation, it must tell you that you can request a follow-up meeting; if you ask, the meeting has to be scheduled within 14 days. The servicer must also give you the HUD toll-free number for finding a certified housing counseling agency.3California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 2923.55 No Notice of Default can be recorded until at least 30 days after that initial contact.4State of California – Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. California Homeowner Bill of Rights
Separately, before recording the Notice of Default the servicer must send you written material that includes a statement about protections for servicemembers and their dependents and a notice that you can request copies of your promissory note, deed of trust, any assignment, and your payment history.3California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 2923.55
Single Point of Contact
If you ask for a loan modification or other foreclosure prevention option, the servicer must assign you a single point of contact. That can be a person or a dedicated team, but whoever is assigned must know the status of your file, have access to decision-makers, and coordinate documentation between you and the servicer.4State of California – Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. California Homeowner Bill of Rights
No Dual Tracking
California bars dual tracking, which is a servicer pushing the foreclosure forward while reviewing your modification application. If a foreclosure prevention option is approved in writing before the Notice of Default is recorded, the servicer cannot record that notice while you are complying with the terms of a trial or permanent modification, forbearance, or repayment plan. If approval comes after the Notice of Default is recorded, the servicer cannot record a Notice of Sale or hold a sale while you remain in compliance.5California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 2924.11
Late fees are also off the table during any period when a complete first-lien modification application is being reviewed, a denial is being appealed, you are making timely modification payments, or a foreclosure prevention option is being evaluated.5California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 2924.11
How Long You Have Once Foreclosure Starts
Most California residential foreclosures are non-judicial. The lender uses a power of sale in the deed of trust and follows the statutory timeline in Civil Code 2924.6California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 2924 No court is involved.
The trustee records a Notice of Default with the county recorder. That document identifies the breach and the amount you would need to pay to cure it, and it starts a 90-day reinstatement period.6California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 2924 Within five days of recording it, the servicer must give you information about foreclosure avoidance options that may be available.4State of California – Department of Justice – Office of the Attorney General. California Homeowner Bill of Rights
If 90 days pass without a cure, the trustee can record and publish a Notice of Trustee’s Sale, which has to be posted, published, and recorded at least 20 days before the sale date.7California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 2924f Add the pre-foreclosure contact requirements, and the full process from first missed payment to sale takes a minimum of several months. In practice it often runs longer when applications are pending or the servicer postpones the sale.
Reinstating the Loan
Reinstatement stops the foreclosure by bringing the loan current. You can reinstate at any time from the date the Notice of Default is recorded until five business days before the sale listed in the Notice of Trustee’s Sale.8California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 2924c
The amount covers past-due principal, interest, taxes, insurance premiums, and any advances the lender made on your behalf, plus reasonable enforcement costs and fees. You do not have to pay off the entire loan balance; only the delinquent amounts.8California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 2924c
If the sale is postponed, the reinstatement right revives, and you get a new window ending five business days before the rescheduled date. Once you are inside that final five-business-day window, the right to reinstate is gone.8California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 2924c
Loan Modification and Loss Mitigation
Reinstatement works if you can produce the full arrears. Most homeowners who fall behind cannot, and that is where loss mitigation comes in. The specific menu depends on your loan type.
For FHA-insured mortgages, HUD offers several paths through your servicer. A partial claim moves your past-due amounts into an interest-free secondary lien that you do not repay until you sell, pay off the mortgage, or transfer title. A loan modification permanently changes one or more terms of the mortgage, adds the delinquent amount to principal, and extends the term at a fixed rate. The two can be combined. A payment supplement uses a partial claim to cover delinquent payments and temporarily reduce your monthly payment for three years. You can only receive one of these permanent options within any 24-month period unless you are affected by a presidentially declared major disaster, and the servicer may require a trial payment plan first.9U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. FHA Loss Mitigation Program
Conventional loans have parallel options through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines, and VA loans have options through the Department of Veterans Affairs. In every case the process starts the same way: contact your servicer and submit a complete loss mitigation application. A HUD-approved housing counselor can help you prepare the application and talk to the servicer at no cost. Find one at hud.gov/counseling or call 800-569-4287.
What About the California Mortgage Relief Program?
The California Mortgage Relief Program was the state’s pandemic-era assistance initiative, administered by CalHFA with federal Homeowner Assistance Fund money. It gave non-repayable grants of up to $80,000 to cover delinquent mortgage payments, property taxes, and partial claim liens or deferrals, paid directly to the servicer or taxing authority.10U.S. Department of the Treasury. California Mortgage Relief Program Term Sheet
It is no longer accepting applications.11California Mortgage Relief Program. California Mortgage Relief Program If you are looking for current help, a HUD-approved housing counselor is the right starting point for identifying any active federal, state, or local programs that fit your situation.
If the House Does Go to Sale, What Do You Owe?
Two California statutes limit lenders from chasing you for the shortfall between what the home sells for and what you owed.
If your home sells through a non-judicial foreclosure, which is the standard trustee sale process, the lender cannot pursue you for any remaining balance. The sale extinguishes the debt.12California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 580d
Even in a judicial foreclosure, no deficiency judgment is allowed on a purchase money loan, meaning a mortgage used to buy a home of four or fewer units that you occupy. The protection extends to refinances of the original purchase money mortgage, as long as the refinance did not include significant new cash out beyond the existing balance and related costs.13California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 580b
So if you bought your home with a standard mortgage and it goes through a non-judicial foreclosure, you walk away without owing additional money to the lender. Home equity lines of credit and cash-out refinances that added new principal beyond the original purchase price are more complicated; the portion attributable to new cash advanced can fall outside the purchase money protection.
Watch Out for Foreclosure Rescue Scams
California’s legislature wrote Civil Code 2945 specifically because foreclosure consultants often charge high fees secured by a lien against the very home the borrower is trying to save, then perform little or no useful service. By the time the homeowner realizes the help was worthless, they have lost critical time and sometimes the property.14California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 2945
Treat the following as warning signs: an upfront fee demanded before any service, instructions to stop making mortgage payments, advice to cut off contact with your servicer, a request that you transfer your property title, instructions to send payments to someone other than your servicer, or a request that you sign documents with blank spaces. HUD-approved counselors do not charge for their services.
One especially damaging scheme asks you to sign your deed over to an “investor” who promises to pay off the mortgage and let you stay as a renter with an option to buy back the home. In practice the homeowner loses all equity, faces eviction, and has no realistic path to repurchase. Another involves operators who file serial bankruptcy petitions on partial interests in your property to trigger automatic stays, delaying the foreclosure temporarily while collecting payments from you that never reach your actual mortgage.
The core point for anyone searching for a California mortgage moratorium: the pause you are hoping for does not exist, but the time and the options do. Call your servicer, call a HUD-approved counselor, and get a complete loss mitigation application on file before the 120 days run out.