Can a credit card company place a lien on property?

Yes they can, but only AFTER they obtain a judgement in court.

And then, they would only get second cracks at it.

The mortgage company would have first cracks if you ever went into default.

Be aware that a credit card company is not obligated to contact you personally when filing in the courts. In most states, they are only required to post the court date in a legal section of a newspaper.
I have talked to many people who received a default judgement notice and they had no idea that the case had even gone to court.

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Originally Posted by lahill

Can a credit card company place a lein on property?

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This actually depends on where you are. In most areas, an unsecured creditor is very limited as to what real property they can go after. For example, in most places they cannot go after a primary residence.

Even if they can put a lien against property, a lien is just a notice of debt. A lien does not have to be satisfied unless the property is sold. An unsecured creditor cannot force the sale of property to satisfy a lien.

That's why it's called unsecured debt, because it's not secured with anything of value and the reason they have astronomical interest rates compared to mortgages and even car loans.