secured lender

Lender who holds a fixed and/or a floating charge on a borrower's assets or property. In case of the liquidation sale of the borrower's property following a default, the secured lenders are paid before the unsecured ones who are paid before the stockholders (shareholders). Investors in the debt securities (bonds, debentures, notes) of a firm have the same precedence over the firm's stockholders as the lenders.