3 ms·

How are these kind of sales done, in practice, in the US? Over here (Norway) the process is something like the following: - Creditor has to send warnings mult

How are these kind of sales done, in practice, in the US? Over here (Norway) the process is something like the following: - Creditor has to send warnings multiple times, then go through a debt collection agency - Debt collection agency tries to contact / get the debtor to pay. - If nothing works, they go to court and can get wage / pension / benefits garnishment, but also petition for foreclosure and seize any assets of value. - The local sheriff (guess that's the closest term) can then vacate the property, and seize any assets, like vehicles, etc. - The items are then sold off at auction, usually starting at a price/bid which equals to the outstanding debt. Unfortunately these auctions aren't that well marketed or advertised, so there's a good chance the assets could sell for less than the going market value. Creditors are given what they're owed from the sale, and if there's anything left, debtors get the surplus money. It's not uncommon for friends / family of the debtor to bid on these things, if it goes that far.

yamtaddle 4y ago
It seems they sent warnings for several years before seizing the property, all without any response. The local government claims there were programs she could have used to pay off the debt over a period of a decade, in order to keep the property, or she could have sold it herself. She already wasn't living in it, so no eviction of an occupant occurred. Debt collection agencies are more common with private creditors & bills, or with unsecured debt. Typically, the entity engaging the agency gets only pennies on the dollar (they usually sell the debt, and the right to pursue it, to the agency). No point in doing that, in this case, since the entire value could be recovered. As I understand it, yes, this was sold at auction, and, as part of the seizure process, the property's mortgage was nullified—without which action, the (auction) sale price would not have covered the remaining balance on the mortgage.

yamtaddle 4y ago

It seems they sent warnings for several years before seizing the property, all without any response. The local government claims there were programs she could have used to pay off the debt over a period of a decade, in order to keep the property, or she could have sold it herself. She already wasn't living in it, so no eviction of an occupant occurred. Debt collection agencies are more common with private creditors & bills, or with unsecured debt. Typically, the entity engaging the agency gets only pennies on the dollar (they usually sell the debt, and the right to pursue it, to the agency). No point in doing that, in this case, since the entire value could be recovered. As I understand it, yes, this was sold at auction, and, as part of the seizure process, the property's mortgage was nullified—without which action, the (auction) sale price would not have covered the remaining balance on the mortgage.