Fridge Logic
If the brothers have a letter from an oil company saying that they're going to get $50,000 a month for an oil lease, why not just use that as collateral for a loan to pay off the mortgage? Or just ask the oil company for an advance?- Because they weren't just motivated by greed, but revenge. They wanted to hurt the bank while also removing the debt. Internally, the bank would eventually figure out what had happened, but because of the trust eventually outweighing the debt and petty thefts. The rub is in knowing that the bank would have a serious black eye on its reputation, on top of everything else.
- Also because the bank is not required to grant the loan to pay off the mortgage. If the bankers knew about the lease, they could refuse to grant the loan, knowing they could foreclose and then sell the land to the oil company at a massive profit, or keep the land and obtain the $50,000/month for the bank, or, if they were corrupt, sell the land to one of the bank's managers and then s/he would get the $50,000/month. Similarly, the oil company is not motivated to grant an advance, as if the property is foreclosed, the oil company can purchase the land from the bank, presumably at less that whatever the lifetime rental of the land is.
When Hamilton goes to Toby at the end he states that he’s on his land and that Toby would be well within his rights to shoot him. This is 100% not true, even in Texas. Hamilton would’ve certainly known that. Being as he’s a man who’s lost his wife and his best friend in recent times and is now retired it seems he’s got no real purpose so it’s likely he was trying to goad Toby into killing him knowing it would guarantee a conviction.
