California · Commercial Code

COM §9601: (a) After default, a secured party has the rights provided in this chapter and, except as otherwise provided in Section 9602, those rights provided by agreement of the parties.

What this law says, in plain English

After a debtor defaults on a secured loan, the lender gains rights under this chapter and any agreement between the parties, except where Section 9602 applies.

Read the full statutory text
(a) After default, a secured party has the rights provided in this chapter and, except as otherwise provided in Section 9602, those rights provided by agreement of the parties. A secured party may do both of the following: (1) Reduce a claim to judgment, foreclose, or otherwise enforce the claim, security interest, or agricultural lien by any available judicial procedure. (2) If the collateral is documents, proceed either as to the documents or as to the goods they cover. (b) A secured party in possession of collateral or control of collateral under Section 7106, 9104, 9105, 9105.1, 9106, 9107, or 9107.1 has the rights and duties provided in Section 9207. (c) The rights under subdivisions (a) and (b) are cumulative and may be exercised simultaneously. (d) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (g) and in Section 9605, after default, a debtor and an obligor have the rights provided in this chapter and by agreement of the parties. (e) If a secured party has reduced its claim to judgment, the lien of any levy that may be made upon the collateral by virtue of an execution based upon the judgment relates back to the earliest of any of the following: (1) The date of perfection of the security interest or agricultural lien in the collateral. (2) The date of filing a financing statement covering the collateral. (3) Any date specified in a statute under which the agricultural lien was created. (f) A sale pursuant to an execution is a foreclosure of the security interest or agricultural lien by judicial procedure within the meaning of this section. A secured party may purchase at the sale and thereafter hold the collateral free of any other requirements of this division. (g) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (c) of Section 9607, this part imposes no duties upon a secured party that is a consignor or is a buyer of accounts, chattel paper, payment intangibles, or promissory notes.

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