Dual tracking
Dual tracking refers to a servicer advancing the foreclosure while a complete loss mitigation application is pending. California law and federal servicing rules both restrict this. In general terms, once a complete application is received before certain milestones, the servicer may not record a Notice of Default or Notice of Trustee Sale, or conduct a sale, until the application has been decided and any appeal period has run.
The protection depends on two things: completeness and timing. An incomplete application generally does not trigger it, and an application submitted very close to a scheduled sale may fall outside the protected window. This is why early, complete submission is a legal strategy and not merely good administration.
Single point of contact
Servicers are generally required to assign personnel to assist a delinquent borrower and to maintain continuity of contact. Request this in writing, record the name and direct number you are given, and reference that person in all subsequent correspondence.
When you are transferred repeatedly and no one owns your file, escalate in writing citing the continuity-of-contact requirement. Escalation letters that cite a specific obligation are handled differently from general complaints.
Where complaints help, and where they do not
Complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, and the Attorney General create a documented record and frequently produce a substantive written response from the servicer that you would not otherwise receive. That response can be useful evidence.
What a complaint does not do is stop a trustee sale. Regulators do not have authority to postpone your auction, and the timelines for complaint response are longer than the timelines in your foreclosure. File the complaint, but never treat it as a stop-sale strategy.