A debt is an obligation owed by one party (the debtor) to a second party, the creditor; usually this refers to assets granted by the creditor to the debtor, but the term can also be used metaphorically to cover moral obligations and other interactions not based on economic value.
A debt is created when a creditor agrees to lend a sum of assets to a debtor. Debt is usually granted with expected repayment; in modern society, in most cases, this includes repayment of the original sum, plus interest.
In finance, debt is a means of using anticipated future purchasing power in the present before it has actually been earned. Some companies and corporations use debt as a part of their overall corporate finance strategy.
Read more about Debt: Payment, Types of Debt, Debt Syndication, Letters of Credit, Accounting Debt, Inflation and Exchange Rates, Effects of Debt, Etymology, History of Debt, Criticisms, Levels and Flows
Other articles related to "debt, debts":
... Subordinated debt is debt that ranks lower than ordinary depositors of the bank ... Only those with a minimum original term to maturity of five years can be included in the calculation of this form of capital they must be subject to proper amortization arrangements ...
... Global debt underwriting grew 4.3% year-over-year to $5.19 trillion during 2004 ... It is expected to rise in the coming years if the spending habits of millions of people worldwide continue the way they do ...
... In economics, consumer debt is outstanding debt of consumers, as opposed to businesses or governments ... In macroeconomic terms, it is debt which is used to fund consumption rather than investment ... It includes debts incurred on purchase of goods that are consumable and/or do not appreciate ...
... When a consumer becomes severely delinquent on a debt (often at the point of six months without payment), the creditor may declare the debt to be a charge-off ... to be "written off as uncollectable." To banks, bad debts and even fraud are simply part of the cost of doing business ... However, the debt is still legally valid, and the creditor can attempt to collect the full amount for the time periods permitted under state law, which is usually 3 to 7 years ...
... The Ottoman public debt was a term which dated back to 4 August 1854, when the Ottoman Empire first entered into loan contracts with its European creditors shortly after the beginning of ... imperial administration's willingness to constantly refinance its debts ... of Muharrem which reduced the overall public debt, the Ottoman Public Debt Administration was established ...
Famous quotes containing the word debt:
“I have been told, that in some public discourses of mine my reverence for the intellect has made me unjustly cold to the personal relations. But now I almost shrink at the remembrance of such disparaging words. For persons are love’s world, and the coldest philosopher cannot recount the debt of the young soul wandering here in nature to the power of love, without being tempted to unsay, as treasonable to nature, aught derogatory to the social instincts.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Live within your means, never be in debt, and by husbanding your money you can always lay it out well. But when you get in debt you become a slave. Therefore I say to you never involve yourself in debt, and become no man’s surety. If your friend is in distress, aid him if you have the means to spare. If he fails to be able to return it, it is only so much lost.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“Even the poor student studies and is taught only political economy, while that economy of living which is synonymous with philosophy is not even sincerely professed in our colleges. The consequence is, that while he is reading Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Say, he runs his father in debt irretrievably.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)