FDIC online auction pilot soars

Following a successful pilot, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation may be through with its traditional method of selling loan pools through sealed-bid, offline auctions.

Bid4Assets.com — an online marketplace for buying and selling high-value, distressed assets from government sources — announced Tuesday that it had completed a $12 million loan sale for the FDIC, its largest online transaction for a federal customer to date.

The FDIC selected two firms, Bid4Assets and Pedestal.com to participate in the pilot, and both companies conducted simultaneous, competitive online auctions attempting to produce the high bidders.

The entirety lot auction for $12 million in mortgages and home equity loans was the first online loan sale conducted for the FDIC. The results exceeded the minimum expected bid by 17 percent. Bid4Assets produced the high bidder — $5.08 million — from one of its 19 unique bidders. The results of the sale can be viewed at online at www.bid4assets.com/FDICresults.

The online auction, which was completed Oct. 26, included mixed-performance home equity loans being sold by the FDIC as agent for Goldome Credit Corp. The loans were offered as five unique pools separated by performance level or as the entire $12 million portfolio. Earlier this year, Silver Spring, Md.-based Bid4Assets became the first Internet-only asset auction site approved by the General Services Administration. It conducted the first asset sales for the U.S. Marshals and the Energy Department, according to the company.