Part of a series on |
Finance |
---|
![]() |
Insolvency |
---|
![]() |
Processes |
Officials |
Claimants |
Restructuring |
Avoidance regimes |
Offences |
Security |
International |
By country |
Other |
In finance, default is failure to meet the legal obligations (or conditions) of a loan,[1] for example when a home buyer fails to make a mortgage payment, or when a corporation or government fails to pay a bond which has reached maturity. A national or sovereign default is the failure or refusal of a government to repay its national debt.
The biggest private default in history is Lehman Brothers, with over $600 billion when it filed for bankruptcy in 2008 (equivalent to over $830 billion in 2023). The biggest sovereign default is Greece, with $138 billion in March 2012 (equivalent to $192 billion in 2023).[2]