Debt Default Foreclosure, garnishing and repossession

[PhoenixKnight]

I would like to make a suggestion to add a foreclosure, garnishing and repossession.
For someone who has a large amount of defaulted unpaid debt, the owner of the loan can:
1. Send a notice of default to the borrower with governor seal on it.
2. Send a second notice after 2 weeks to the borrower with the governor seal on it.
3-a If the borrower has plantations, the lender can ask the governor for foreclosure on plantation and the lender owns it upon approval.
3-b If the borrower has a hideout, the lender can ask the governor for foreclosure on one or more buildings. The lender can reduce the level of the foreclosed buildings until the get their money back.
3-c If the borrower has active trade routes, the lender garnishes their income after taxes are paid.
3-d if the borrower has no reliable source of income but has ships, the lender repossesses those ships until all debt is paid from the value of sale of the ships.
4. If none in 3 satisfies the debt, the lender with the governor seal freezes all borrower accounts and can withdraw up to the value that satisfies the debt.
5. Finally, if this still does not satisfy the debt and the player has any buried gold, the lender finds the treasure map in the borrowers belongings and excavate the borrowers treasure for a turns fee of up to 400 turns to recover losses.

[Slammerg]

I agree that there should be some mechanism for recovering an unpaid loan and whilst all of PK suggestions are good I would add a caveat to them as follows -

1) The default notice should be an automatic process which once put into place only stops once the debt has been paid otherwise bank owners with multiple bad debts could spend their entire playing time doing administration also before step three is implimented a final notice should be sent as a last chance
2) During the defualt period it may be worth allowing the debtor to offer a percentage of the debt as payment with the rest written off if agreed by the creditor
3) I think 3c should be swapped with 3a but with say 50% of the trade routes income going to pay off the debt otherwise there is a danger of the player just leaving the game completely because they may feel they have no other option with no income, fleets should not be able to be stopped by the debtor except by attacks or if the danger exceeds 2

Just my thoughts to allow debts to be retrived whilst still allowing players to continue into the game

[Haron]

I do NOT think there should be any way to automatically get back defaulted loans from ACTIVE players. If an active player defaults a loan, I think the banker should come after him, directly or indirectly, and force him to pay.

But when a player leaves the game while in debt, that's another issue. There were some suggestions about this some time ago, but I don't recall if the suggestions for handling this was ever implemented? Anyone?

[PFH]

Oftentimes players will refinance what they cannot pay back into a longer lower interest loan. I see no issue with the trade routes option as is. Rarely does it ever get to a point where a player will not seek out help or reach out. And in this case, the banker can reach out to the player and offer refinancing for the loans they have. Problem solved

[xPROx]

I agree with Haron on this if player is active. Go get your gold back do not loan to them anymore. And as a Banker you should know the risk of loans. Never loan more then your willing to lose.

No if player has been inactive for longer then 30 days I believe as a Banker you should have a way to recover some not all

[PhoenixKnight]

I disagree. It doesn't matter if the player is active or not. Just like insurance, taxes,...etc, mechanisms that govern and make things more realistic can be adopted. If someone owes you money, you can take their possessions by court order. This is just a replication of that rule.
Why can you loan someone money if you cannot get back your money. This just breaks the loan system. Since we cannot have collateral established, then this safeguards the benefit of the loan system

[Most Lee Harmless]

I think we have to be realistic here. Inactive players are a waste of effort persuing. Defleeting them will rarely recover the costs of doing so nevermind recovering debt.

There is no real logic in persuing debt by aggressive acts such as defleeting/attacking as cost outweighs benefit. The banker is already out of pocket, only a fool goes deeper into their own pockets in such cases.

Real world banks do so because there is a pathway to debt recovery by aggressive chasing and legal action. Avonmora has none of those mechanisms.

As for don't lend if you can't afford to lose it. Just shorten that sentence to simply : "Don't lend."

Without mechanisms to recover debt the so-called 'loan' system is more akin to a 'kindly donation' system which surprises more by the fact that any get repaid nevermind some don't.

[Dmanwuzhere]

if your debtor has money in my bank and you come to get it im whoopin on you the best i can if its in your bank do whatever you want but the easiest way is just whoop em until they pay

[DezNutz]

I'm not against the idea of Banks being able to get something back from defaulted loans.

There have been previous discussion and suggestions on this. I would have to look to find them.

I however would favor a banker the ability to sell debt to a nation or debt collector at a reduced cost. Then the Nation or Debt Collector could clear that debt as they see fit.

[The Lamb]

As a banker, i dont think anyone with any flag can say player lending isn't a necessary function of the game unless you want it to crawl. I can see the need for collections, however, this is supposed to be at a time when lending practices were far less regulated and there was the risk of never seeing your cash again, so with that in mind, getting your woop on to collect seems to be a good way. I would propose a couple things though:

1. Would be nice to have loan default list under bank link so bankers can see who has been reported in default.
2. if there as a mechanism in that default tab to allow for repossessions. What i could see is if there is reported defaulting on loans, maybe the banker(S) could commandeer ships directly from fleets after 30 days of inactivity. Those are tangible assets. in the case of multiple bankers with claims, better watch the clock, its first come first serve.
3. Maybe those ships come with the captains. (x amount of repo casts per $ owed)
......Example--- if I loan 10 mil to someone, they default and go inactive and i commandeer a LMM with Captain. At my current rate of 9.1 mil per captain, I would damn near be whole (effectively), yes i know they didn't pay that much for the captain.
4. Later down the road when planation actions come into play, maybe there will be ways to lay claim to inactive resources.

Its not a way to be totally whole, but it could offer some, if even a little relief.

Just a thought