In August 2020, I wrote an article about my first tax lien buying experience in MS. Click on the link to review the post. Tax Lien Buying in MS

Yesterday, I went to the mailbox and low and behold, I received mail from MS. Immediately, I knew someone had paid their property taxes and I was getting the money I paid back plus interest which I was looking forward to. Low and behold, that is not exactly what happened. Yes, I got some money back with interest, but not everything I paid.

Here’s the breakdown on what happened.

1. Tax lien cost $177.33
2. I paid $199.33
3. I received $193.29

When I looked at the stub that came with the check. it listed the delinquent amount which in my case is $177.33 and then it lists the interest on that amount which is 15.96% and that’s how I ended up with $193.29.

Now I lost $6.44 but it’s also a gain because I learned that I should have paid more attention to the training for the website and during the live auction. I’m pretty sure this is the lien I was bidding against myself on. I was in a bidding war with someone and went a little too far. LOL! I’m laughing because it’s an easy mistake to make when dealing with online bidding and attending the live auction. Normally, I wouldn’t attend the live bid, I would place my bids and wait for the results. This is not something I’m going to beat myself up over, but it is something I wanted to share because it’s an easy mistake to make for anyone.

On a positive note, let’s say I did only pay $177.33 for it and I received $193.29 with the 15.96% interest. That’s $15.96 on $177.33. You are not going to get that with your money in a bank. Keep in mind, I purchased this in August 2020 and it’s February 2021. I can’t make that much interest on $5,000 in the bank in 6 months. It’s definitely something to think about as you find ways to make your money work for you.