Eliminate Dept What Debt Counselors Do

Loan Origination ... There are many different types of loans. For more information on loan types, see the loan and consumer lending articles...

Loan ... In a loan, the borrower initially receives or borrows an amount of money, called the principal, from the lender, and is obligated to pay back or repay an equal amount of money to the lender at a later time. Typically, the money is paid back in regular installments, or partial repayments; in an annuity, each installment is the same amount...

Credit (finance) ... Credit does not necessarily require money. The credit concept can be applied in barter economies as well, based on the direct exchange of goods and services (Ingham 2004 p...

Mortgage Loan ... The word mortgage is a Law French term meaning "death contract," meaning that the pledge ends (dies) when either the obligation is fulfilled or the property is taken through foreclosure. A home buyer or builder can obtain financing (a loan) either to purchase or secure against the property from a financial institution, such as a bank, either directly or indirectly through intermediaries...

Nonrecourse Debt ... It is only used for residential mortgage loans in the United States, although most of Europe enforces mortgage debt forgiveness after eviction... Common uses Non-recourse debt is typically used to finance commercial real estate and similar projects with high capital expenditures, long loan periods, and uncertain revenue streams...

Criticism Of Debt ... There are many arguments against debt as an instrument and institution, on a personal, family, social, corporate and governmental level... Calls for debt relief to the developing countries have been more and more insistent since the 1980s Latin American debt crisis, and, more recently, the Argentine economic crisis... Developing countries' debt has often been qualified as an odious debt and a mean of neocolonialism, in particular by "third-worldism" (tiers-mondisme) and the more recent alter-globalization movement...

United States Housing Bubble ... Any collapse of the U. S. Housing Bubble has a direct impact not only on home valuations, but the nation's mortgage markets, home builders, real estate, home supply retail outlets, Wall Street hedge funds held by large institutional investors, and foreign banks, increasing the risk of a nationwide recession...

Financial Position Of The United States ... The net worth of the United States at the end of 2008 was $75 trillion or 5.2 times GDP. Net worth Net worth is the sum of assets (both financial and tangible) minus liabilities for a given sector...

Debt Levels And Flows ... Within mainstream economics, levels and flows of public debt (government debt) are a cause of concern, while levels and flows of private debt (especially households and corporations) is not seen as being of central importance... In measuring debt, stocks and flows are both of interest: stocks are amounts, levels of debt (e.g., $100) and have units of currency (such as US Dollars), while flows are changes in levels – in calculus terms, the derivative – (e.g., $10/year), and have units of currency/time (such as US Dollars/Year)... In order to make these stock and flows comparable between countries and across time, one may normalize these by some measure of the size of the country's economy, most often GDP, that is, compute the debt to GDP ratio...

Political Debates About The United States Federal Budget ... The extent to which the deficit and debt increases are a cause or effect of wider systemic problems is frequently debated...

Debt Relief ... To qualify for irrevocable debt relief, countries must also maintain macroeconomic stability and implement a Poverty Reduction Strategy satisfactorily for at least one year... Arguments against debt relief Opponents of debt relief argue that it is a blank cheque to governments, and fear savings will not reach the poor in countries plagued by corruption... They further argue that it would be unfair to third-world countries that managed their credit successfully, or do not go into debt in the first place...

Foreclosure ... If the borrower defaults and the lender tries to repossess the property, courts of equity can grant the borrower the equitable right of redemption if the borrower repays the debt...

Debt Consolidation ... Debt consolidation can simply be from a number of unsecured loans into another unsecured loan, but more often it involves a secured loan against an asset that serves as collateral, most commonly a house...

Securitization ... Critics have suggested that the complexity inherent in securitization can limit investors' ability to monitor risk, and that competitive securitization markets with multiple securitizers may be particularly prone to sharp declines in underwriting standards. Private, competitive mortgage securitization is believed to have played an important role in the U. S...

Insolvency ... A business may be 'cash flow insolvent' but 'balance sheet solvent' if it holds illiquid assets, particularly against short term debt that it cannot immediately realize if called upon to do so... Conversely, a business can have negative net assets showing on its balance sheet but still be cash flow solvent if ongoing revenue is able to meet debt obligations, and thus avoid default: for instance, if it holds long term debt... Consequences of insolvency The principal focus of modern insolvency legislation and business debt restructuring practices no longer rests on the liquidation and elimination of insolvent entities but on the remodeling of the financial and organizational structure of debtors experiencing financial distress so as to permit the rehabilitation and continuation of their business...

Financial Risk ... – the costs of servicing debt becomes larger than the revenues available to pay interest on and bring down the debt...

Income Inequality In The United States ... While post 1970s increase in inequality (sometimes called the Great Divergence) has not been caused by a widening gap between the poor and middle class, but between the middle class and top earners, with disparity becoming more extreme the further one goes up in the income distribution. A 2011 study by the CBO found that the top earning 1 percent of households gained about 275% after federal taxes and income transfers over a period between 1979 and 2007, (although this number has decreased somewhat since 2007 as a result of the Great Recession )...

Bankruptcy ... Many city-states in ancient Greece limited debt slavery to a period of five years and debt slaves had protection of life and limb, which regular slaves did not enjoy...

Bank ... Due to their critical status within the financial system and the economy generally, banks are highly regulated in most countries. Most banks operate under a system known as fractional reserve banking where they hold only a small reserve of the funds deposited and lend out the rest for profit...

Gold Standard ... Similarly, the gold exchange standard typically involves the circulation of only coins made of silver or other metals, but where the authorities guarantee a fixed exchange rate with another country that is on the gold standard. This creates a de facto gold standard, in that the value of the silver coins has a fixed external value in terms of gold that is independent of the inherent silver value...

Mortgage Industry Of The United Kingdom ... Finally, bad debt provisions relative to advances were only 0.4% for the top 20 societies compared with 2.8% for the four banks...

Deficit Reduction In The United States ... Measured as a percentage of GDP, debt held by the public ranged between 23% and 50% during the 1971-2007 period, then rose significantly in the wake of the financial crisis and recession of 2008–present, ending 2010 at 62.1% GDP or $9.0 trillion... Causes of recent deficits and debt increases Economic growth and employment are key factors driving recent deficits...

Fiscal Policy ... Contractionary fiscal policy occurs when government spending is lower than tax revenue, and is usually undertaken to pay down government debt... Consuming prior surpluses A fiscal surplus is often saved for future use, and may be invested in either local currency or any financial instrument that may be traded later once resources are needed; notice, additional debt is not needed...