FAQ for Keep Your Home California

The Keep Your Home California program is closed because all of the Hardest Hit Funds that were awarded to the State of California to prevent foreclosures (over $2 billion dollars) have been provided to approved homeowners.

The Keep Your Home California program has spent 100% of the Hardest Hit Funds provided by U.S. Treasury to help eligible homeowners avoid foreclosures. The program will not re-open.

Keep Your Home California was a federally funded program to help California homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages due to financial hardships. California received over $2 billion in federal funding and worked with housing counselors, servicers and housing advocates to provide assistance that helped prevent avoidable foreclosures and keep Californians in their homes. The program is now closed and no longer accepting applications for assistance.

Keep Your Home California was a federally funded program administered by the CalHFA Mortgage Assistance Corporation (CalHFA MAC) under the guidance of the United States Department of the Treasury.

CalHFA MAC is CalHFA Mortgage Assistance Corporation, a nonprofit public benefit corporation separate from California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA). CalHFA MAC Officers are employees of CalHFA and receive no additional compensation for performing these duties. The CalHFA MAC Board of Directors is comprised of CalHFA and other state leaders who are experts in the California housing crisis. CalHFA MAC was created specifically to receive and disburse federal funding for the benefit of qualified California homeowners; these funds cannot be commingled with or used for any other state budget purpose.

If you are experiencing difficulty getting foreclosure prevention assistance from your servicer, you can contact a HUD Approved Counseling Agency. These agencies may help you determine if you qualify to participate in other programs and can recommend a course of action based on your unique facts and circumstances.

The best way for homeowners to reach a representative and provide updated information is to call Keep Your Home California’s toll free number (888) 953-3722.

No. The purpose of the Keep Your Home California Program was to keep struggling homeowners in their homes and prevent avoidable foreclosures. This program was not available for second homes or investment properties, which includes using the home as a rental property. If you lease or rent your home after you receive Keep Your Home California assistance, you may be responsible to repay the benefit proceeds if you sell your home in the future.

For specific information regarding all of Keep Your Home California’s “qualified homeowner” criteria, which includes an occupancy requirement for the duration of the Note, please see a sample copy of the Promissory Note.

In the event an active duty military homeowner is deployed or relocated, pursuant to military orders, Keep Your Home California will waive the “occupancy” requirement and the “Acceleration of Payment” clause, as pertains to occupancy, contained in the Note and the “Prohibition on Transfers of Interest” clause in the Deed of Trust, as pertains to the homeowner’s ability to rent or lease the home during the period of their relocation. The homeowner will be required to provide updated temporary residence/location information and must provide a copy of the orders requiring his/her relocation.

Keep Your Home California uses the Note date as the start date for the Keep Your Home California lien. The Note date is the date of final Keep Your Home California approval. To request a copy of your Promissory Note, you may contact Keep Your Home California at 888.953.3722 or email docrequest@kyhca.org.

Yes, at the conclusion of the term of the Promissory Note and Deed of Trust, both will be released and forgiven, however;

If, during the term of the Promissory Note, your first mortgage loan is refinanced and you receive cash out OR if the property is sold with sufficient net proceeds to pay off the CalHFA MAC lien, the Promissory Note will be required to be paid.

For specific information regarding all of Keep Your Home California’s “qualified homeowner” criteria, which covers the full term of the Note, please see a sample copy of the Promissory Note.

Keep Your Home California will not subordinate to an open-ended loan, which includes a Home Equity Line of Credit or a Reverse Mortgage loan, under any circumstances. Homeowners who want to refinance their existing first mortgage and replace it with a Home Equity Line of Credit or a Reverse Mortgage will be required to pay off the CalHFA MAC lien.

If you are approved to sell your home for less than the total amount owed, Keep Your Home California will take this into consideration when reviewing your loan for payoff. Any amount paid to satisfy your Promissory Note as a part of a servicer-approved short sale or Deed in Lieu transaction will be received from the senior lien holder, not you.

Homeowners may request a copy of their Note and Deed of Trust by sending an email request to docrequest@kyhca.org.

Homeowners that need a copy of their recorded Deed of Trust should contact a title company to obtain the document for them. Keep Your Home California does not fulfill these requests.

Although most of Keep Your Home California’s programs provided assistance in conjunction with a Note and Deed with a five (5) year lien term, some types of Principal Reduction Program assistance required a ten (10) year or a thirty (30) year lien term. Principal Reduction Program assistance that was combined with a ten (10) year or thirty (30) year lien term, offer prorated forgiveness terms that begin on the anniversary of the fifth (5th) year.

CalHFA MAC shows two dollar amounts on the Deed of Trust. Each has a unique purpose as explained below:

If CalHFA MAC only included the calculated benefit amount on the Deed of Trust, homeowners would be required to sign new collateral documents if their mortgage payment changed AFTER the application approval date even if they had not exceeded the maximum program amount.

Please note that the final disbursed benefit amount may differ from the original calculated benefit and/or maximum program amounts that are reflected on the Deed of Trust.

Example: A homeowner who was approved for 18 months of Unemployment Mortgage Assistance valued at $26,000 may have returned to work before exhausting the entire 18 months / $26,000 in benefit assistance. In this scenario the disbursed benefit amount would be equal to the amount reflected on the Payoff Demand and may not match either amount from the deed of trust.

Yes, CalHFA MAC offers prorated forgiveness terms to all homeowners who received PRP assistance with a ten or thirty year lien – even if the Note and Deed of Trust they signed do not contain the prorated forgiveness terms. Prorated lien release terms can be found here:

The KYHC mature lien release process does not require any homeowner interaction. When a lien reaches it maturity date, KYHC submits a Deed of Reconveyance to the county where the Deed of Trust was recorded. The county records the Deed of Reconveyance, which releases the KYHC lien. The recorded Deed of Reconveyance is mailed by KYHC to the homeowner after the county has recorded the document. The recording time frames vary by County Recorder’s offices and KYHC has no control over this process or timeline. In addition, KYHC will provide the homeowner with their Promissory Note and Deed of Trust stamped “satisfied” within 30 days of the maturity date.

Homeowners can instruct their lender, escrow company or title company to request a payoff demand which will show the lien has matured and no monies are owed.

CalHFA MAC provides homeowners with “satisfied” copies of their Promissory Note and Deed of Trust within 30 days of their Promissory Note’s scheduled maturity date or full payoff. CalHFA MAC also submits paperwork to the county where the Deed of Trust was recorded with instructions to release the Deed of Trust. This document is called a Reconveyance and it will be sent to the homeowner as soon as the county completes the release of lien process.

Yes, you can view samples here:

If you need to request a payoff demand, subordination agreement or short sale demand, please instruct your real estate agent, lender or escrow officer to go to our Payoffs and Subordinations page to obtain helpful information about how to request any of these documents.

Please be advised that Keep Your Home California will not subordinate or approve a short sale if the homeowner ceases to be a “qualified homeowner” as defined in the Promissory Note. Please see a sample copy of the Promissory Note, which includes all of the “qualified homeowner” provisions that cover the full term of the Note.

Keep Your Home California cannot release its lien prior to the maturity date and will only consider acceptance of less than the amount owed in conjunction with an approved short sale wherein the property value is insufficient to repay the full amount of the KYHC lien(s). Although we are sympathetic to various hardships homeowners face, the Federal guidelines under which the KYHC program operates do not allow exceptions.

If you are struggling with meeting your mortgage obligation, or are anticipating financial distress that may impact your ability to meet your mortgage obligation, we recommend reaching out to a HUD Approved Counseling Agency. These agencies may help you determine if you qualify to participate in other programs and can recommend a course of action based on your unique facts and circumstances.

Keep Your Home California (KYHC) does not fulfill Verification of Mortgage (VOM) requests because the liens have zero interest and homeowners do not make payments. If the lender needs to know the current loan balance of a KYHC lien, go to the Payoffs and Subordinations page.

All subordination requests are subject to Keep Your Home California’s guidelines. (link to Payoff/Subordination Page) CalHFA may approve a Keep Your Home California lien for subordination; however, it will not allow changes (i.e., add or remove) to the signors/co-signors of the Keep Your Home California lien or the first mortgage.

If you need to request a subordination agreement, please instruct your real estate agent, lender or escrow officer to go to our Payoffs and Subordinations page to obtain helpful information about how to request any of these documents.

Please be advised that Keep Your Home California will not subordinate if the homeowner ceases to be a “qualified homeowner” as defined in the Promissory Note. Please see a sample copy of the Promissory Note, which includes all of the “qualified homeowner” provisions that cover the full term of the Note.

Homeowners may determine if their KYHC lien is eligible for subordination consideration by working with their lender, escrow or title company to request a payoff demand. The KYHC payoff demand contains lien balance and maturity date information, which will help homeowners determine if their lien is eligible for subordination consideration. Please view the Payoff and Subordination page for more information.

For homeowners who do not know the outstanding lien balance and/or maturity date(s) associated with their KYHC assistance, a Payoff Demand may be obtained before a Subordination Request is submitted. This document will help determine if the lien(s) is/are eligible for subordination consideration based on CalHFA’s new policy effective February 1, 2021. The KYHC Payoff Demand contains the outstanding lien balance(s) and maturity date information, which are a part of the new policy.

No, Keep Your Home California does not require payment of the non-refundable application fee to determine if a transaction is eligible for subordination consideration based on the following policies:

The Keep Your Home California Payoffs and Subordinations page provides detailed instructions for lenders, escrow and title companies to help homeowners obtain a Payoff Demand that will be used to determine if their KYHC lien is eligible for subordination consideration PRIOR TO payment of the non-refundable subordination application fee.

The Keep Your Home California subordination application fee is non-refundable because the cost to process a subordination must be paid regardless of the outcome of the subordination file review.

A Keep Your Home California lien is ineligible for subordination consideration if the maturity date is less than 60 days from payment of non-refundable application fee because processing time for a subordination – which includes recording on the subordination agreement – is approximately 60 days. This creates a conflict with CalHFA’s lien release processes. Once a KYHC lien has been released the homeowner can proceed with their new loan/refinance without a subordination.

A Keep Your Home California lien is ineligible for subordination consideration if the outstanding lien balance is less than $20,000 dollars based on CalHFA policy. Outstanding lien balances less than $20,000 dollars may be paid off with the new loan/refinance. Homeowners who do not wish to pay off the KYHC lien with their new loan/refinance have the option to wait until the lien matures before refinancing.

Effective Monday, February 1, 2021, Keep Your Home California will require payment of the non-refundable application fee for all subordination requests that have been determined conditionally eligible for subordination consideration. The $150 non-refundable fee is assessed for each lien. Subordination requests that were submitted to KYHC after close of business Friday, January 15, 2021 must be reviewed for conditional eligibility based on the new policy before payment of the fee or a new package is submitted to KYHC.

A Keep Your Home California deed of trust with a 5-year lien term is required to be extended for five (5) years from the subordination agreement date based on CalHFA policy. The policy to allow subordination of a KYCH lien in favor of a new loan is an accommodation – it is not a requirement.

Keep Your Home California will subordinate to a rate & term refinance of the existing first mortgage loan provided the new first mortgage loan meets KYHC’s “no-cash out” and other subordination criteria. All requests for subordinations are subject to KYHC review and approval. Please note that KYHC policies are subject to change without notice.

Keep Your Home California will NOT subordinate and allow a homeowner to combine a HERO/PACE loan with a new first mortgage loan. Keep Your Home California will subordinate to a rate & term refinance of the existing first mortgage loan provided the new first mortgage loan meets KYHC’s “no-cash out” and other subordination criteria. All requests for subordinations are subject to KYHC review and approval. Please note that KYHC policies are subject to change without notice.

Keep Your Home California may subordinate the lien to ensure eligible homeowners are able to refinance their property provided the new loan is for a rate and term refinance only and meets the “no-cash out” criteria and all of the other KYHC subordination policy criteria.

Please instruct your lender or escrow officer to go to our Payoffs and Subordinations page. This page provides helpful information about how to request a subordination for a refinance transaction.

Please be advised that Keep Your Home California will not subordinate its lien or approve a short sale if the homeowner ceases to be a “qualified homeowner” as defined in the Promissory Note. Please see a sample copy of the Promissory Note, which includes all of the “qualified homeowner” provisions that cover the full term of the Note.

Keep Your Home California defines “cash out” as monies disbursed to the borrower which exceeds 1% of the new loan amount or monies paid to a third party for the benefit of the borrower (e.g., debt consolidation, home improvement, tuition, delinquent property taxes, etc.). Reasonable and customary costs associated with refinancing (e.g., appraisal, processing fees, title insurance, origination fees, etc.) may be financed in the loan and are not considered “cash out.”

No, Keep Your Home California will not subordinate the CalHFA MAC lien in favor of any open-ended loan, including a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) or a Reverse Mortgage loan.

CalHFA MAC’s collateral documents used the maximum amount of assistance that could be provided for each unique program, or the remaining balance that was available if a homeowner previously received assistance from the program.

Use of the maximum program/remaining program amount provided flexibility that allowed Keep Your Home California to disburse additional funds without requiring new collateral documents from the homeowner. This was most helpful when a mortgage payment change (increased) subsequent to original approval of benefits.

Keep Your Home California cannot subordinate its lien to a cash-out refinance transaction. Although we are sympathetic to various hardships homeowners face, the Federal guidelines under which the KYHC program operates do not allow exceptions.

If you are struggling with meeting your mortgage obligation, or are anticipating financial distress that may impact your ability to meet your mortgage obligation, we recommend reaching out to a HUD Approved Counseling Agency. These agencies may help you determine if you qualify to participate in other programs and can recommend a course of action based on your unique facts and circumstances.

CalHFA Mortgage Assistance Corporation’s tax ID number is 27-2860498.

The best way for homeowners to request a copy of their 1098MA tax statement is to call Keep Your Home California’s toll free number (888) 953-3722 or email docrequest@kyhca.org.

You can find more information regarding 1098-MA statements at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1098ma.pdf or call the IRS toll free at 1-866-455-7438.

No. They are two separate documents.

Keep Your Home California does not provide tax advice to homeowners regarding our benefit assistance. Please consult a tax professional regarding tax liability of the benefit assistance provided by Keep Your Home California.

Special Note: Homeowners may obtain additional information from the IRS regarding their determination of tax liability for Housing Finance Agency (HFA) Hardest Hit Fund programs.

Go to: https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-1098-ma to read an IRS publication regarding tax liability for our program, or

Go to: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch23.html to obtain information directly from the IRS website.

Extension of Guidance in Notice 2013-7 for Participants in the HFA Hardest Hit Fund

The 1098-MA provides you and the IRS with the dollar amount of financial assistance your loan servicer received on your behalf from the Keep Your Home California program in the current tax year.

If you believe the dollar amount of assistance reported on the 1098-MA is incorrect; please call the Keep Your Home California program at (888) 953-3722.

Keep Your Home California is required to provide you and the IRS with the dollar amount of financial assistance your loan servicer received on your behalf during the current tax year. If you received more than one 1098-MA tax statement, it is because you obtained program assistance more than once during the tax year. This can occur when a homeowner receives financial assistance from more than one unique program (Example: Unemployment and Mortgage Reinstatement assistance were provided) OR a homeowner obtained assistance more than once from the same program (Example: Unemployment assistance was provided as a result of two or more unique, approved applications).

Homeowners who received more than one 1098-MA tax statement from Keep Your Home California are required to use ALL 1098-MA tax statements when preparing their taxes as the total of all 1098-MA’s represents the full amount of financial assistance provided during the current tax year.