> Second, these companies that buy up loans don't seem all that technically capable. I fear that, one day, my parents' loan will be bought by one without an automatic monthly payment system. Again, someone with shady morals could start a company that looks to buy mortgages on properties where the mortgage is a fraction of the cost of the home and then not offer a auto-pay feature. When people inevitably miss a couple of manual payments, they could aggressively try to foreclose.

Don't most consumer banks and credit unions these days have automatic bill payment systems that, if the recipient is incapable of recieving payment otherwise, fallback to mailing computer-printed checks, so that consumers get automatic payments even if the payees don't have their own system?