Payoff Statements and Reinstatement Figures: How to Request Them

To get your payoff and reinstatement figures, send your loan servicer a written request for two different documents: a reinstatement figure, which is the itemized amount needed to cure the default and keep the loan, and a payoff demand statement, which is the full amount needed to pay the loan off as of a stated date. California Civil Code section 2924c says the lender will give you a written itemization of the reinstatement amount on written request, and section 2943 sets the rules for payoff demand statements, including who may ask and how quickly the lender must answer. Ask early, in writing, to the servicer's designated address, and keep a copy of everything you send.

This article is part of our series on behind on payments, liens and tax defaults. For the whole map of options and the timeline, start with behind on payments in California: your options, the timeline and the two numbers. This page explains how to ask; your servicer, a housing counselor or an attorney applies the rules to your loan.

Two figures, two different questions

People often ask for "the payoff" when what they need first is the reinstatement figure. They answer different questions, and the right one depends on what you are trying to decide.

Reinstatement figurePayoff demand statement

The question it answers

What do I pay to cure the default and keep the loan?

What does it take to pay the loan off completely?

California law

Civil Code section 2924c

Civil Code section 2943

Federal rule

-

12 CFR 1026.36(c)(3) (Regulation Z)

What it includes

Amounts in default, permitted costs and trustee's or attorney's fees

Principal, interest through a date, fees and other sums owed

When you use it

Weighing whether you can catch up

Weighing a sale, a refinance or a short sale

Amount

-

-

If you may want to keep the house, the reinstatement figure comes first. If a sale is one of the options, you need both: the reinstatement figure to see what catching up would cost, and the payoff to see what a sale would have to clear.

Before you write: the servicer and a counselor

A written request works best after a phone call. The California courts' self-help guide says the servicer must give you one person to contact during the foreclosure process. Ask that contact which address handles written requests, and ask what options exist besides a sale: reinstatement, a repayment plan or a loan modification. Only your lender can offer those.

Then call a HUD-approved housing counselor. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Find a Counselor tool searches HUD's official list by ZIP code, and the CFPB can connect you by phone at (855) 411-2372. A counselor can help you request these figures and read them. See HUD-approved housing counselors: what they do.

How to request a reinstatement figure

Every notice of default carries a statutory notice, set out in section 2924c, that includes this sentence: "Upon your written request, the beneficiary or mortgagee will give you a written itemization of the entire amount you must pay." That is your request. Ask for it in writing, and ask for the itemization as of a specific date, because the amount grows with each missed payment.

Section 2924c also tells you what the figure may contain. To reinstate, you pay the amounts in default, including recurring payments that came due after the notice, plus reasonable costs actually incurred, such as recording and mailing charges, and trustee's or attorney's fees, which subdivision (d) caps on a sliding scale tied to the unpaid principal. When the itemization arrives, check that each line falls into one of those groups.

The right has an end point. Under section 2924c(e), reinstatement is available until five business days before the sale date in the recorded notice of sale. If the sale is postponed by more than five business days, the right revives until five business days before the new date. The dates on your own notices control, so read them with notice of trustee sale: reading the date.

How to request a payoff demand statement

Section 2943 defines a payoff demand statement as a written statement, prepared in response to a written demand, of the amount needed to fully satisfy the loan, with enough information to work out a daily interest amount for a period of up to 30 days. Four details shape the request:

• Who may ask. An "entitled person," which includes you as the borrower or your successor in interest, a junior lienholder of record and a licensed escrow holder. Each may act through an authorized agent, so an escrow officer can request it once a sale is open.
• The California deadline. The lender must deliver the statement within 21 days of receiving the written demand.
• The foreclosure cut-off. Once a notice of default is recorded, the lender's duty applies only if your demand arrives before the notice of sale is first published. Asking early protects you.
• The fee. The lender may charge up to thirty dollars per statement, a limit that does not apply to loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration or backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Federal law adds its own rule. Regulation Z, at 12 CFR 1026.36(c)(3), requires the servicer to send an accurate payoff statement "within a reasonable time, but in no case more than seven business days" after a written request. That outer limit does not apply when the loan is in foreclosure or bankruptcy, where the rule asks only for a reasonable time. Owners behind on payments are often in exactly that case, which is one more reason to send the request before you need it.

The CFPB explains why the payoff differs from the balance on your statement: the payoff includes interest through the day you intend to pay the loan off, and can include unpaid fees and, on some loans, a prepayment penalty.

What to put in the letter

Neither statute prescribes a form. A clear request usually carries:

1. Your name, the property address and the loan number.
2. The documents you want: "a written itemization of the amount needed to reinstate" and "a payoff demand statement," each named separately.
3. The date you want each figure calculated to, and a request for the daily interest amount after that date.
4. If a counselor, attorney or escrow officer should receive a copy, a signed authorization naming them.
5. A reply address and phone number, and the date you sent it.

Send it to the address the servicer designates, by a method you can track, and keep a copy with the date. Federal rules let a servicer set a specific address for some written requests, and using it avoids a lost letter.

Reading what comes back

Lay the two documents side by side and check each line against the other. A payoff that is far above the reinstatement figure plus the remaining balance deserves a question.

LineReinstatement figurePayoff statement

Missed payments

-

-

Late charges

-

-

Foreclosure costs and trustee's fees

-

-

Unpaid principal

Not included

-

Interest through the stated date

-

-

Daily interest after that date

-

-

Good-through date

-

-

Section 2943 lets you, and an escrow holder, rely on the statement as its terms provide. If the lender amends it, an amendment given orally must be followed in writing by the next business day. And if the lender leaves a sum out, that sum is not lost to the lender, but it becomes an unsecured debt rather than a charge against the house.

If the figure looks wrong or never arrives

• Ask the servicer to correct it, in writing. Regulation X, at 12 CFR 1024.35, treats a written notice of error as a formal request. "Failure to provide an accurate payoff balance amount upon a borrower's request" is one of the listed errors, and the rule gives payoff errors a shorter response deadline than most.
• Know the California remedy. Under section 2943, a lender that willfully fails to deliver within 21 days is liable for actual damages and forfeits three hundred dollars to the person who asked.
• Tell your counselor, and talk to an attorney if the amounts, fees or dates look wrong. Whether a figure is correct is a question about your loan documents, and this page cannot answer it.

Preparing a statement does not move a sale date. Section 2943 says so expressly, so keep the trustee sale date in view while you wait.

Where the figures go next

If a sale is on the table, these two documents are the backbone of any honest comparison. We put two numbers on the same house, an as-is cash offer and an open-market read, each with the comps, the deductions and the net after the payoff you request. The open-market read is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal; it is not an automated estimate and not a certified appraisal. The offer sheet with payoff and arrears lines shows where each figure lands.

When listing wins: if the date leaves room for a listing to find a buyer and close, and the house shows well, the open market will usually net more, and the written recommendation says so. You are then introduced to a designated local expert, an independently licensed agent who works your area. Mr. Cali Offers never lists a house.

What this looks like in practice

These are the kinds of files that come in, described without names or figures.

• An Ontario owner who asked for "the payoff" and received the full balance, when the question was whether catching up was possible. The second letter asked for the reinstatement itemization by name. Notices for an Ontario house record with the San Bernardino County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk.
• An owner whose notice of sale had already been published before any written payoff request went out, so the state deadline no longer applied. The counselor's call to the single point of contact came first.
• An owner whose payoff and reinstatement figures listed different foreclosure fees. The written notice of error went in before any sale was priced.

If a sale is one of the options you and your counselor want measured, see how both numbers are mapped against your trustee sale date, or call (909) 498-3977. There is no cost and no obligation to get the two numbers and the written report.

Sources

• California Civil Code section 2943 (beneficiary and payoff demand statements), copy read on california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026
• California Civil Code section 2924c (reinstatement, the required notice and fee limits), copy read on california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026
• 12 CFR 1026.36(c)(3) (Regulation Z, payoff statements), Cornell Legal Information Institute: law.cornell.edu, accessed November 6, 2026
• 12 CFR 1024.35 (Regulation X, notices of error), Cornell Legal Information Institute: law.cornell.edu, accessed November 6, 2026
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, What is a payoff amount? Is it the same as my current balance?: consumerfinance.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Find a housing counselor: consumerfinance.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Judicial Branch of California, Your rights in a nonjudicial foreclosure: selfhelp.courts.ca.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• San Bernardino County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk: arc.sbcounty.gov, accessed November 6, 2026

Mr. Cali Offers is not a law firm, a lender or a housing counseling agency, and does not offer foreclosure consulting. Cash offers come from independent buyers and investors who buy for their own account and may resell for profit; a cash offer is generally below what the open market would bring. Any value shown is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice.