Junior lein holder has gone out of businness. Now what???
Hello,
I've come to a road block in a short sale property I am attempting to purchase. I will make a long story short and get down to the essential questions.
Title report via escrow on this property showed a junior lien taken out at the same time as the senior lien from the same bank (Country wide). Both loans were mortgage loans and were initiated in 2005. One was for $250k and the second for $54k.
In 2008 some how the second loan was sold off to a company called "Beneficial Financial." Since that time the borrower has received no bills at all. For over 10 years nothing. Borrower had even forgotten about this loan. Now trying to purchase this property I am attempting to negotiate this lien in order for title to be free and clear.
I have tried everything I can think of to contact this entity. From the research I have done it seems they have gone out of business. The only lead I found was a web page saying "We no longer service any loans. For questions please mail a letter to this address." I have mailed numerous letters there with no response.
I am speaking with a real estate attorney, but thought I would ask here as well. Here are my questions:
1) Has anyone had any experience with "beneficial financial'? It seems somehow or other they were affiliated with HSBC but I tried to call them and they weren't helpful.
2) Is there any legal process, in the situation where a lien holder cannot be contacted or located, where you can give ample and public notice for lien holder to come forward and claim possession, otherwise lien will be forgiven?
3) What other options do I have?
4) If bank were to foreclose on this property what method would they use to remove this lien?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks a lot.
It's called a "quiet title action." You should use an attorney, and it could take a month or more, but that's about the only way a title company will insure.
Good luck.
You'll need to track down the 2nd mortgage which you know. At times this takes a lot of effort and time. The account may be archived or likely sent off to a charge off company. I've only experienced one or two times out of an extremely large volume of transactions where I was unable to locate a subordinate mortgage.
Quiet Title Action "might" reveal who has the subordinate lien. On a short sale though it may not be worth the headache or costs associated though as the whole transaction is speculative anyways.
If the senior lien foreclosures then the subordinate lien would be released.
The best way is to follow the bread crumbs. Typically the listing agent, short sale processor, title, and borrower should be helping to locate this.
Best regards,
Bond around it. JR Olsen Bonds is who I use, but I am in Cali. Not sure if they are everywhere.