Blanket Lien

When you’re five, and you put a lien on your favorite blankie.

Okay, so...first off, what’s a lien? If you asked a friend for $100 to borrow, and your friend said, “hey man, you still owe me $20...why would I give you $100?” and you said, “okay, if I don’t pay you back, you can have my watch, which is worth at least $100” and your friend says “deal,” you just took out a lien on your watch.

A lien is basically a promise...that if you don't pay back the money you've borrowed, the lender will get something of yours as collateral.

So what’s a blanket lien? One that covers all the stuff you own (which means good for the lender, not good for the borrower).

If you borrowed money with a blanket lien on everything you owned, that means the lender could take all your stuff and sell it to get their money back. If you hear “blanket lien,” you should be afraid. Very afraid. It’s so scary it might make a good Halloween costume.