In its February 2021 Bulletin, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) reminds licensed mortgage loan servicers that DFPI examinations will include processes to determine compliance with state and federal laws providing consumer protections with regard to COVID-19-related foreclosures.  The DFPI notes that these laws “include provisions allowing for forbearance of mortgage payments, post-forbearance options forbidding the requirement of lump sum payments, and the extension of the California Homeowner Bill of Rights to tenant occupied principal residences.”  The DFPI also notes that California law protects both federally backed and non-federally backed mortgage loans.

The bulletin also warns that the DFPI will take the necessary actions to ensure that mortgage loan servicers comply with the homeowner protections in the California Homeowners Bill of Rights (which was enacted in 2013).