Resources in Each of the Six Counties for Owners Behind on Payments

In every one of the six counties, the first two calls for an owner behind on payments are the same: your loan servicer, and a HUD-approved housing counselor found through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Find a Counselor tool or by calling the CFPB at (855) 411-2372. After that, the help is local: the county treasurer-tax collector for unpaid property taxes, the county recorder for the notices recorded against your house, and the superior court's self-help center for court papers and pointers to legal aid. Los Angeles County adds its own foreclosure prevention service through the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs. This page lists each office by county, linked to its official page.

This article is part of our series on behind on payments, liens and tax defaults. For the options and the timeline, start with behind on payments in California: your options, the timeline and the two numbers. Mr. Cali Offers is none of the offices below and does not offer counseling or legal help.

Start here, in any county

• Your servicer. The California courts' self-help guide says the servicer must give you one person to contact during the foreclosure process, and that the lender cannot move forward while your loss mitigation application is pending. Ask that contact about reinstatement, a repayment plan or a modification, and request your figures in writing; see payoff statements and reinstatement figures: how to request them.
• A HUD-approved housing counselor. The CFPB's Find a Counselor tool searches HUD's official list by ZIP code. The CFPB says these agencies provide foreclosure prevention counseling at no charge, and lists the HOPE Hotline at (888) 995-4673. Ask for default or foreclosure counseling specifically, because not every agency offers every service. More in HUD-approved housing counselors: what they do.
• The California courts' self-help guide. The Judicial Branch says every superior court offers some help to people without a lawyer, in person, by phone or online. Its self-help site has a finder for each court's self-help center by city, county or ZIP code, and a legal help page that points to legal aid offices through LawHelpCalifornia, to lawyer referral services and to county law libraries. Whether you qualify for legal aid depends on your income and the type of problem.

The six counties at a glance

CountyHousing helpProperty taxRecorded noticesCourt self-help

Los Angeles

DCBA Foreclosure Prevention

Treasurer and Tax Collector

Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk

Judicial Branch self-help finder

Orange

CFPB counselor finder

Treasurer-Tax Collector

Clerk-Recorder

Superior Court self-help centers

Riverside

CFPB counselor finder

County treasurer-tax collector

Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder

Judicial Branch self-help finder

San Bernardino

CFPB counselor finder

Tax Collector

Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk

Superior Court self-help

San Diego

CFPB counselor finder

Treasurer-Tax Collector

County recorder

Superior Court Self-Help Center

Ventura

CFPB counselor finder

County treasurer-tax collector

County recorder

Superior Court self-help centers

County by county

Los Angeles County

• Department of Consumer and Business Affairs, Foreclosure Prevention. DCBA says its counselors help homeowners explore the available options, understand the foreclosure process, communicate with the lender and review and submit documents, and warn about scams. The service is offered at no charge to homeowners and to landlords with 15 or fewer units in the county, by phone or in person by appointment, at 800-593-8222.
• Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Homeowner Notification Program. The Recorder mails owners copies of documents recorded against their home, including ones that change ownership, show loans, or are a notice of default or notice of sale. Email alerts require a profile on the Assessor's portal. For a Claremont or Pomona house, this is where a notice of default records.
• Treasurer and Tax Collector. Defaulted taxes are the taxes still unpaid at the end of the fiscal year. The office's Five-Pay Plan lets an owner pay defaulted taxes in 20 percent increments of the redemption amount, with interest, along with each year's current taxes, for residential property less than five years in default. The office asks taxpayers to send questions through its online inquiry page, and also lists 213.974.2111.

Orange County

• Treasurer-Tax Collector, Payment Plans. A plan for delinquent secured taxes can start after June 30 of the fiscal year the taxes became delinquent, with an initial payment of 20 percent or more of the delinquent amount plus a setup fee, and cannot start once taxes have been delinquent five or more years. Questions go to (714) 834-3411.
• Clerk-Recorder. Its online grantor and grantee index lets you search recorded documents by name, and the site carries a real estate fraud alert page.
• Superior Court self-help centers. The court lists in-person self-help at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana and the Lamoreaux Justice Center in Orange, and live self-help kiosks at the Costa Mesa, Westminster, Fullerton and Newport Beach courthouses.

Riverside County

• Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder. The ACR lists County Clerk-Recorder phone numbers of (800) 696-9144 and (951) 486-7000, and has expanded its remote services.
• Treasurer-tax collector and Superior Court. Ask the county treasurer-tax collector where a parcel stands, and use the Judicial Branch's self-help finder for the Riverside Superior Court's self-help services.

San Bernardino County

• Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk. Its site lets you look up public official records and check whether a document has recorded through the Recorder's self-service portal. Notices on houses in Upland or Rancho Cucamonga record here. The same home page links to the Tax Collector's site for property tax bills.
• Superior Court self-help. The court offers in-person assistance, online assistance, guided interactive help and court forms through its self-help pages.
• Special taxes in newer tracts. The City of Rancho Cucamonga says its community facilities district special taxes are typically collected through the County of San Bernardino as separate charges on the property tax bill. Its Special Districts Lookup shows which districts apply to a parcel, and its special districts staff answer at (909) 774-2582.

San Diego County

• Treasurer-Tax Collector, Payment Plans. A five-year plan may be available for taxpayers in default for less than five years. Starting it takes at least 20 percent of the total, all current-year taxes due and a fee, and the signed contract must reach the office before its deadline. Tax collection questions go to 1-877-829-4732.
• Superior Court Self-Help Center. Attorneys, paralegals, clerks and trained volunteers explain procedures and help with forms, remotely by phone or video. The court says the help is not legal advice and is offered at no charge, without an income test. The page also links to the county bar's lawyer referral service, the Legal Aid Society of San Diego and the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program.

Ventura County

• Superior Court self-help centers. The court has a Civil Self-Help Center reached through a contact form, a Family Law Self-Help Center, and self-help webinars at no charge.
• Treasurer-tax collector and recorder. Ask the county treasurer-tax collector about tax defaults and the county recorder about recorded notices.

Which office answers which question

• Missed mortgage payments: the servicer, then a counselor. A counselor can also help you read any notice you receive.
• Unpaid property taxes: the county tax collector. Under Revenue and Taxation Code section 4217, any person may elect to pay delinquent taxes in installments until the collector gains the power to sell, and under section 3691 the collector gains the power to sell residential property after five years or more in tax default.
• A notice you did not expect: the county recorder shows what has recorded, and the dates on it shape every other conversation; see notice of trustee sale: reading the date.
• Court papers or a lawsuit: the court's self-help center for procedure, and an attorney or legal aid office for advice.

The DCBA page and the courts' guide both warn about scams. Anyone who asks for a fee up front to deal with your lender is a reason to call a counselor before you sign anything.

Where a sale fits

Sometimes the conclusion, after the lender and the counselor, is that the house has to sell. If so, the sale should be measured. 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 and tax figures from the offices above. The open-market read is a preliminary estimate, not an appraisal; it is not an automated estimate and not a certified appraisal.

When listing wins: if there is time before any sale date for a financed buyer to 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.

• A Rancho Cucamonga owner behind on the mortgage and on the special tax line, who brought the San Bernardino County tax bill and the city's district lookup to a counselor before asking what a sale would leave.
• A Pomona owner who learned of a recorded notice through the Los Angeles County Recorder's mailing, and called the DCBA line before anyone else.

If a sale is one of the options you 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

• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Find a housing counselor: consumerfinance.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, How do I find a HUD-approved 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
• Judicial Branch of California, Foreclosure and mortgage help: selfhelp.courts.ca.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Judicial Branch of California, Find self-help services: selfhelp.courts.ca.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Judicial Branch of California, Help at your court: selfhelp.courts.ca.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Judicial Branch of California, legal help resources (legal aid, lawyer referral and law libraries): selfhelp.courts.ca.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs, Foreclosure Prevention: dcba.lacounty.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Homeowner Notification Program: lavote.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector: ttc.lacounty.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector, Property Tax Installment Plans: ttc.lacounty.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector, Payment Plans: octreasurer.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Orange County Clerk-Recorder: ocrecorder.com, accessed November 6, 2026
• Superior Court of California, County of Orange, Self-Help Centers: occourts.org, accessed November 6, 2026
• Riverside County Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder: rivcoacr.org, accessed November 6, 2026
• San Bernardino County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk: arc.sbcounty.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino: sanbernardino.courts.ca.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• City of Rancho Cucamonga, Special Districts: cityofrc.us, accessed November 6, 2026
• San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector, Payment Plans: sdttc.com, accessed November 6, 2026
• Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, Self-Help Center: sdcourt.ca.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• Superior Court of California, County of Ventura: ventura.courts.ca.gov, accessed November 6, 2026
• California Revenue and Taxation Code 3691 (power to sell), copy read on california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026
• California Revenue and Taxation Code 4217 (installment payment of delinquent taxes), copy read on california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026

Mr. Cali Offers is not a housing counseling agency, a government office, a law firm or a lender, 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.