Legal Question in Business Law in California

There is no penalty until you have shown a pretty serious lack of attention to the case. When you filed the case, or shortly thereafter, you should have received a notice of a case management conference. If the defendant has not answered by then, and you have not taken the default, you can expect to be chewed out a bit by the court and set for another status hearing by which time the court will say you must default or get an answer out of the defendant. If you still haven't taken care of getting one or the other on file by the second hearing, your case might be dismissed, although most courts will give you one more chance and set a dismissal hearing at which time the case must be resolved, or an answer on file, or it will be dismissed unless you show up and have a REALLY good excuse.

The previous answer states it well. I would only add that most plaintiffs want to file for a default judgment the minute the 30-day period is up, so as to prevent the defendants from answering and dragging out the proceedings. Be aware that, even though they are in default, the court usually allows defendants to file a late answer unless a motion for default judgment has been filed. Even then, the defendants may be allowed to respond as to why they should not be held in default. Most people want to get a case over as soon as they can, proceed to collecting the money (which can itself take some time) and getting on with their lives. It is not clear why you aren't eager to do that.