California Civil Code 2920.5 – For purposes of this article, the following definitions …
For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Mortgage servicer” means a person or entity who directly services a loan, or who is responsible for interacting with the borrower, managing the loan account on a daily basis including collecting and crediting periodic loan payments, managing any escrow account, or enforcing the note and security instrument, either as the current owner of the promissory note or as the current owner’s authorized agent. “Mortgage servicer” also means a subservicing agent to a master servicer by contract. “Mortgage servicer” shall not include a trustee, or a trustee’s authorized agent, acting under a power of sale pursuant to a deed of trust.
Terms Used In California Civil Code 2920.5
- Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
- Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
- Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
- property: includes property real and personal. See California Civil Code 14
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
- Trustor: The person who makes or creates a trust. Also known as the grantor or settlor.
(b) “Foreclosure prevention alternative” means a first lien loan modification or another available loss mitigation option.
(c) (1) Unless otherwise provided and for purposes of Sections 2923.4, 2923.5, 2923.55, 2923.6, 2923.7, 2924.9, 2924.10, 2924.11, 2924.18, and 2924.19, “borrower” means any natural person who is a mortgagor or trustor and who is potentially eligible for any federal, state, or proprietary foreclosure prevention alternative program offered by, or through, his or her mortgage servicer.
(2) For purposes of the sections listed in paragraph (1), “borrower” shall not include any of the following:
(A) An individual who has surrendered the secured property as evidenced by either a letter confirming the surrender or delivery of the keys to the property to the mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized agent.
(B) An individual who has contracted with an organization, person, or entity whose primary business is advising people who have decided to leave their homes on how to extend the foreclosure process and avoid their contractual obligations to mortgagees or beneficiaries.
(C) An individual who has filed a case under Chapter 7, 11, 12, or 13 of Title 11 of the United States Code and the bankruptcy court has not entered an order closing or dismissing the bankruptcy case, or granting relief from a stay of foreclosure.
(d) “First lien” means the most senior mortgage or deed of trust on the property that is the subject of the notice of default or notice of sale.
(Added by Stats. 2012, Ch. 87, Sec. 2. (SB 900) Effective January 1, 2013. See identical section added by Stats. 2012, Ch. 86.)