Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Your question is not so clear. However, from what you wrote, I think what you're asking is whether the same lender can convert the unsecured notes into secured. Not if under the terms of the unsecured loans that you originally got, the loans had no collateral to support them. If you default on them and the lender sues and obtains judgments, then they can put judgment liens on your collaterals supporting the secured notes.

Larry L. Doan, Esq.

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I pretty much agree with the prior answer by Mr. Doan. Most secured loans are secured only by the property identified in the security instrument at the time the loan is made, and that security instrument is usually, but not always, a deed of trust.

There are, however, instances in sophisticated commercial lending and corporate finance, where individual loans are cross-referenced to other transactions between the same lender and borrower, or even to deals the borrower has made or may make in the future with other lenders.

You (or your lawyer) should review all the loan documents for phrases that might make after-acquired property subject to an earlier loan obligation, or for the use of terms like "cross-collateralized" or "cross-defaulted." Sometimes lenders set up a new loan so that any default by the borrower on a prior, or future, loan is also a default on the current loan, and/or that collateral for each loan is also collateral for every loan.

So, a kind of general answer is that, outside of owner-occupied residential lending where there are protections for the unsophisticated, that borrowers and lenders can make deals that potentially affect other assets of the borrower. Nevertheless, the creditor's rights don't go beyond the black-and-white of the contracts -- unless and until the creditor obtains a judgment against the debtor, as Mr. Doan mentions. A recorded judgment would affect all non-exempt assets of the judgment debtor.