Topic on merc unit start up and how many are owner/operator mechwarriors caused me to wonder . . .
By the start up rules and in game, while quite a few mercenary mechwarriors before the Clan invasion were owners afterwards that number should have fallen off. Mid 3055s as the Houses start shifting from feudal service to national machines issued to soldiers in units so to would the shift among mercenaries though likely to a lesser extent. We also start getting blurbs in new mechs in TROs 3055/3058/3060/3067 where it is specifically mentioned that the mech was declined by a House and so sold to the merc market (Garm), were specifically built for mercs (Bandersnatch/ Cronus/Verfolger), or that a company cut a special deal with limited mercs (Spector). So those mechs bought in would be company assets rather than being owned by individuals . . .
. . . and in some cases, they would be paid for by loans either through the manufacturer (GMAC for those Avatars or Marauders!), through lending establishments on mercenary worlds, or by loans through the House governments. Like citing GMAC, I would expect it to be a lot like loans from car manufacturers which might explain where their profit margin has been hiding. Merc world lending establishments would IMO run the gamut from legitimate (First Bank of Harlech) to Carmine Falcone (loan shark!). For the GMAC-like organizations or the banks on hiring halls, I imagine your MRBC rating would factor heavily into your interest rate. Collateral would be other military equipment, such as either the merc unit founders' mechs, ASF or tanks or the other company owned equipment that dispossessed operate. Would terms of the loans adjust interest rates depending on what type of contract the merc's unit is on? A lower rate for garrison or cadre? slightly higher for pirate hunting in the periphery? VERY high for assault or raid? What other sort of terms might lenders put in the contracts?
What happens though when the unit's had a run of bad luck or their finances were tight and the mercs had not paid in months or the loan is called due. With the default of the loan, who goes and collects the equipment?
The only time afaik in fiction where we see this sort of thing happen is when the Blakists instigate the seizure of Avanti's Angels' equipment under false pretenses but the request from the creditors obliges local governments to cooperate in the seizure. I cannot remember if one of the Bounty Hunter stories is about recovering a mech or a mechwarrior for their family. The intro in the Empires Aflame deals with some asset seizure specialists that where working for Stone but we never get to see it actually happen.
To take back mechs or tanks from defaulting units involuntarily would require IMO some intrusion specialists who can pilot or drive whatever, then escort and finally a plan for securing the repo'd asset- either secure storage under lawful supervision or dash to a DS that will burn for orbit as soon as its loaded. The repo teams could either be operating on a contract from a lender (sort of security consultant deal- Blackwater), as independents taking contracts for their special skills on a one time basis, or as bounty hunters.
If they were regular mercenaries taking that sort of contract, either completely or hired on as escorts . . . how would they be treated by other mercs afterward?