I missed a mortgage payment. What happens now?
Nothing happens to the house yet, and the months right after a missed payment are when you have the most choices. Expect a late fee, then calls and a letter from your servicer. Federal rules generally keep a servicer from starting a foreclosure until you are more than 120 days behind on a loan on your main home. California then adds a contact rule and at least 3 months after a notice of default before any sale. Call your servicer this week.
If you are reading this the week a payment went out late, take a breath. A foreclosure in California runs on dated steps with minimum waits, and the earliest ones are the slowest. This page covers the time before any notice is recorded. If you already hold a notice of default, go to what to do with a notice of default.
What happens in the first 120 days after a missed payment?
Here is the order, for a typical loan on the home you live in. The federal rules on servicer contact and foreclosure timing cover a mortgage loan secured by the borrower's principal residence (12 CFR 1024.30(c)(2)).
Your note sets the late fee and the grace period. For many loans on an owner-occupied single family home, California caps the late charge at 6% of the principal and interest part of the payment, or $5 if that is more, and no payment counts as late until at least 10 days after the due date (source: Civil Code section 2954.4). Some lenders are outside that section, so read your note.
The servicer has to make a good faith effort to reach you live by the 36th day of the delinquency, and again after each missed due date, and tell you about loss mitigation options (12 CFR 1024.39(a)).
The servicer has to send a written notice about your options by the 45th day of the delinquency (12 CFR 1024.39(b)).
The servicer generally cannot make the first notice or filing for a foreclosure until the loan is more than 120 days delinquent (12 CFR 1024.41(f)(1)).
In California the first foreclosure step is usually the recorded notice of default. Before it, nothing about the default is recorded against the house.
What can the servicer offer you?
Servicers call these loss mitigation options. Which ones you can get depends on who owns your loan and its rules, so ask. The common ones are:
- A repayment plan. You pay the missed amount back over a few months on top of the regular payment.
- Forbearance. Payments are paused or reduced for a set time. The skipped money is still owed afterward, so ask exactly how it gets paid back.
- A loan modification. The loan terms change for good, for example a new rate or a longer term, to bring the payment down.
The application is the lever. If you send a complete loss mitigation application more than 37 days before a foreclosure sale, the servicer has 30 days to evaluate you for every option and tell you in writing what it will offer (12 CFR 1024.41(c)(1)). If the complete application arrives before the first foreclosure notice or filing, the servicer generally cannot make that first filing until it has told you that you are not eligible and any appeal is over, you turn down every option, or you stop performing under an agreement (12 CFR 1024.41(f)(2)).
What does California add before a notice of default?
For a first lien loan on an owner-occupied home of one to four units (Civil Code section 2924.15), California adds three protections.
- A real conversation. The servicer has to contact you in person or by phone to assess your finances and explore ways to avoid foreclosure. It has to tell you that you can ask for a second meeting, schedule that meeting within 14 days if you ask, and give you HUD's toll-free number for a housing counselor (Civil Code section 2923.5).
- A 30 day wait. The notice of default cannot be recorded until 30 days after that first contact, or 30 days after the servicer shows it tried with due diligence: a first-class letter, three phone calls on different days and at different hours, then a certified letter if you stay silent for two weeks (section 2923.5).
- A pause for a complete modification application. While a complete application for a first lien loan modification is pending, the servicer cannot record a notice of default or a notice of sale (Civil Code section 2923.6).
What happens after a notice of default?
The clock gets shorter and the dates get firmer. At least 3 months must pass after the notice of default is recorded before a sale (Civil Code section 2924). You can still reinstate the loan by paying what is past due plus allowed costs until five business days before the sale date in the first recorded notice of sale (Civil Code section 2924c). The notice of trustee sale goes up at least 20 days before the sale (Civil Code section 2924f). The full sequence, step by step, is in how long foreclosure takes in California.
Why is the time before a notice of default the easiest time to sell or refinance?
Because you are working with the most time and the smallest bill. Before a notice of default, no foreclosure paper is recorded against the house, the past due amount is a payment or two, and none of the trustee's fees that come with a foreclosure have started. A regular sale needs time for photos, showings, an escrow and a payoff statement, and every week you start earlier is a week you keep.
The same is true of a refinance. Ask a lender how the late payments on your record affect what it will offer you, before the number of late payments grows.
If the numbers say the house has to go, a sale you run is paid off from the price at closing, and you keep what is left. See selling a house in foreclosure for how the payoff works.
The servicer call script
Call the number on your statement and ask for the loss mitigation department. Write down the date, the time, the name of the person and what they said. Ask these five questions.
- How much do I owe today to bring the loan current, including late fees, and what is the good through date?
- Which options can I apply for on this loan: a repayment plan, forbearance or a modification?
- What exactly makes my application complete, and where do I send it?
- Who is my single point of contact, and how do I reach that person directly?
- Has anything been sent to a foreclosure attorney or trustee yet, and on what date?
Keep copies of everything you send, and send it in a way that leaves a record.
Who can help for free?
A HUD-approved housing counselor can walk through your options and talk to the servicer for you if you give written consent. HUD lists approved agencies at hud.gov/findacounselor, and California requires the servicer to give you HUD's toll-free number on the first contact (section 2923.5). Ask any agency about fees before you agree to anything. For a legal question about your loan or your deadlines, call a real estate or bankruptcy attorney.
Sources, each read on October 6, 2026:
- 12 CFR 1024.39, early intervention: live contact by day 36, written notice by day 45.
- 12 CFR 1024.41, loss mitigation: the 30 day evaluation and the 120 day rule. Scope in 12 CFR 1024.30(c)(2).
- Civil Code section 2954.4, the late charge cap.
- Civil Code section 2923.5, Civil Code section 2923.6 and Civil Code section 2924.15, contact and modification rules and their scope.
- Civil Code section 2924, Civil Code section 2924c and Civil Code section 2924f, the notice of default, reinstatement and notice of sale.
- HUD housing counselor search.
This is general information about federal and California law as it read on October 6, 2026. It is not legal advice. Which rules apply depends on your loan, who services it, whether the home is your principal residence, and the dates on your notices. Talk to a real estate or bankruptcy attorney or a HUD-approved housing counselor about your own situation before you rely on any date here. Ascension Estates does not provide legal services, and this article does not promise that any step will stop a foreclosure.
How many mortgage payments can you miss before foreclosure starts?
For a loan on your main home, federal servicing rules generally keep the servicer from making the first foreclosure notice or filing until the loan is more than 120 days delinquent, under 12 CFR 1024.41(f). In California that first step is usually a recorded notice of default, and the servicer also has to contact you, or try with due diligence, at least 30 days before recording it under Civil Code section 2923.5.
When does my servicer have to contact me after a missed payment?
Federal rules require a good faith effort at live contact by the 36th day of the delinquency, and a written notice about your options by the 45th day, under 12 CFR 1024.39. California separately requires an in person or phone contact before a notice of default, with HUD's toll-free number for a housing counselor.
What is the best thing to do after missing a mortgage payment?
Call the servicer, ask for loss mitigation, and get a complete application in early. A complete application sent before the first foreclosure filing generally stops that filing until the servicer decides and any appeal is over. Write down every call, and talk to a HUD-approved housing counselor or an attorney.
Can I sell my house if I am behind on payments?
Yes. You own the house until a trustee's sale, and a regular sale pays off the loan from the price at closing. The earlier you start, the more time you have for showings and escrow, and the smaller the past due amount and fees.
Summary points
- For a loan on your main home, a servicer generally cannot start a foreclosure until you are more than 120 days behind (12 CFR 1024.41(f)).
- Expect a call attempt by day 36 and a letter about your options by day 45 (12 CFR 1024.39).
- In California the servicer must contact you, or try with due diligence, and wait 30 days before recording a notice of default (Civil Code section 2923.5).
- A complete loss mitigation application sent early is your strongest move, because it can hold off the first filing while it is decided.
- After a notice of default, at least 3 months pass before a sale, and you can reinstate until five business days before the sale date.
- Selling or refinancing is easiest before a notice of default, while the past due amount and the fees are smallest.