The 2021 Mortgage Servicing COVID-19 Rule establishes temporary special COVID-19 procedural safeguards that must be met for certain mortgages before the servicer can make the first notice or filing required by applicable law for any judicial or non-judicial foreclosure process because of a delinquency. 

This new CFPB rule creates additional steps that your servicer must follow before they can start foreclosing on your house.

These additional safeguards only apply to your loan if:

• Your loan has been delinquent more than 120 days after March 1, 2020; and
• The statute of limitations applicable to the foreclosure action being taken in the state or municipality where the property securing the mortgage loan is located expires on or after January 1, 2022.

The CFPB considers these additional safeguards satisfied and your servicers may move forward with foreclosure, if:

• You submitted a completed loss mitigation application and current law allows your servicer to make the first notice or filing;
• Your property securing the mortgage loan is abandoned under state or municipal law; or
• The servicer has conducted specified outreach and you have been unresponsive.

This CFPB rule expires on January 1, 2022, meaning that your servicer may continue to foreclose on your home without these additional safeguards.

A servicer must maintain records that document actions taken with respect to a borrower’s mortgage loan account until one year after the date a mortgage loan is discharged or servicing of a mortgage loan is transferred by the servicer to a transferee servicer.