THE LOST TITLE

Once upon a time, Mr. Xyz took out a loan from a small rural bank, offering his home as collateral. He was a model borrower, paying every installment on time until the debt was fully settled. But once he was done, he made one crucial mistake: he never bothered to reclaim his property title from the bank.

Fast forward to 2016. Mr. Xyz decided it was time to sell his house. Naturally, he needed the title in hand to close the deal. Confidently, he set out to find the new headquarters of the rural bank, since the branch where he had originally taken out the loan had long since closed.

Digging deeper, he uncovered a tangled history: the rural bank had been absorbed by a local bank in the late 90s. That local bank, in turn, was acquired by a foreign bank a few years later. Then, following the global financial crisis, that foreign bank collapsed — and its remains were bought out by yet another international giant.

Determined, Mr. Xyz called the U.S. hotline of the new foreign bank, hoping for a quick resolution. Instead, he was met with blank stares (or rather, confused voices) on the other end of the line. No one had any idea what he was talking about, much less how to help him retrieve a title from decades ago.

To make matters worse, Mr. Xyz no longer had the receipts or paperwork to prove he had paid off his loan in full.

What started as a simple plan to sell his house turned into a bureaucratic nightmare — all because he left one small but vital task undone.

So what do you think happens to the property?