[Svartalfiar]

The payoff on the loans must have been more than the value of the property.

I don't think that's that likely.. Even in a crappy place like SanFran, three thousand rooms of hotel is quite a lot of property. If it was just about saving money from being underwater, they would have made this decision a year or two ago. At six months left, they should have about 5% of the total loan remaining. Do they really think the hotels have lost 95% of their value? (Actually more since the loan is likely somewhat less than the original value.)

[Fido969]

You don’t know if it were an amortized loan or a balloon loan.

This was a business decision. They didn’t give anything up.