BNET Business Dictionary
Business Definition for: Debt
- an amount of money owed to a person or organization
- money borrowed by a person or organization to finance personal or business activities
Wiktionary Definition for: Debt
- something that is owed to another
- something you are bound to perform or repay
- Money that one person or entity owes or is required to pay to another, generally as a result of a loan or other monetary transaction.
Additional Resources
- Foreign Debt is the Biggest Issue | BTalk Australia
- (19min 11) On today’s BTalk Australia economist Nicholas Gruen from Lateral Economics gives his view on the economy. His biggest concern is foreign debt and the possibility of capital flight. He suggests why the economic downturn in Australia is different to many other countries overseas and, therefore, requires a different...
- Blog posts 2009-03-23
- Got Debt? Equifax Launches Debt Wise
- What happens when you lose your job and run out of money? You stop paying your mortgage or rent, credit card bills and car payments. Yesterday's news that credit delinquencies hit a new high  wasn't surprising. The American Bankers Association ABA released a report showing that delinquencies on consumer...
- Blog posts 2009-07-08
- Yell tries to move mountain of debt
- Shares in Yell have doubled in value over the past two months as refinancing talks over the directory firm's debt load progress.But the market capitalisation of the publisher of the Yellow Pages is still dwarfed by the size of its debt mountain. At £3.8bn, Yell's net debt in July...
- External links 2009-09-03
- Refinance Your Debt
- Renegotiate debt terms or exchange debt for equity in order to conserve cash — or even grow. The scenario: Too many financial obligations are tying up the balance sheet. The tactic: Renegotiate debt terms or exchange debt for equity in order...
- Articles 2008-11-20
- Say on Pay: Complaints About Debt Collectors Surge
- As Americans sink further into debt, so does their distaste for paying it back. Complaints about debt collection rose 34 percent from 2004 to 2008, according to a new FTC report. The agency last year received roughly 79,000 complaints regarding those third-party debt collection services everyone loves...
- Blog posts 2009-10-21
- Escalade: All Debt Is Not Created Equal
- Saj Karsan submits: Regular readers know that, as value investors, we generally prefer companies with relatively low debt levels. The reason for this is that companies with low debt levels will fare much better than their competition during times of economic distress, providing for better downside risk protection. But looking...
- External links 2009-07-24
- Dubai Struggles to Ease Debt Default Fears
- By Tamara Walid and Jeremy Gaunt DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters UK) - Dubai struggled to ease fears of debt default on Thursday after its move to delay repayments at two flagship firms shook confidence in the Middle East as a centre for investment and a source of capital. Dubai's debt problems, a...
- News items 2009-11-26
- Off Balance Sheet Corporate Finance with Synthetic Leases : Shortcomings and How to Avoid Them with Synthetic Debt
- Synthetic leases provide corporations with off-balance-sheet finance for acquisition of tangible assets. The financings are less efficient for financial planning purposes than conventional on-balance- sheet debt. The inefficiencies can be avoided by replacing synthetic leases with synthetic debt. Synthetic debt finance transforms lease obligations into the investment equivalent of senior...
- White papers 2001-01-01
- Consumer debt types and debt payment behavior
- Debt payment behavior, as a dependent variable, has three categories--"pay debt on time," "pay debt late but no later than two months," and "pay debt late for two or more months." Debt amount and debt types (mortgage loan, credit card balance, and installment loan) are used as independent variables. We...
- Research articles 2007-01-01
- Global Debt: A Closer Look
- Reggie Middleton submits: Initially published on the author's site on 3/10/09. These are the main conclusions: Europe really messed up. They on average have household debtloads that are as big or bigger than ours, and they grew their debt a lot more quickly on...
- External links 2009-03-13
- The Choice Among Bank Debt, Non-Bank Private Debt and Public Debt: Evidence From New Corporate Borrowings
- Using a sample of 1,560 new debt financings, the paper examines the choice among bank debt, private, non-bank debt, and public debt. It finds that the primary determinant of the choice of debt source is the credit quality of the issuer. Firms with the highest credit quality borrow from public...
- White papers 2002-06-01
- Debt-to-Equity Ratio as Fishing Lure
- People are starting to bottom fish for companies with low debt on the assumption that they'll be the fastest to rebound once the economy starts to recover. But there is contradictory evidence that it's precisely the debt-laden companies that are seeing the biggest rise in stock price. Today I'd like...
- External links 2009-04-23
- Wind Hellas case puts debt restructurings in spotlight
- The fate of creditors in one of Europe's biggest bond restructurings has fired up a fierce debate over the rights of investors in risky debt and the impact it could have on future lending.Wind Hellas, one of Greece's biggest telecoms companies, this week sought formal consent from senior lenders...
- News items 2009-11-10
- Dubai Seeks Debt Delay, Some Units Cut to Junk
- By Matt Smith and Enjy KiwanDUBAI/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dubai said on Wednesday two of its flagship firms planned to delay repayment on billions of dollars of debt as a first step toward restructuring Dubai World, the conglomerate that spearheaded the emirate's breakneck growth.The sudden move by the Gulf government...
- News items 2009-11-25
- Dubai Seeks Debt Delay, Some Units Cut to Junk
- By Matt Smith and Enjy KiwanDUBAI/NEW YORK (Reuters UK) - Dubai said on Wednesday two of its flagship firms planned to delay repayment on billions of dollars of debt as a first step towards restructuring Dubai World, the conglomerate that spearheaded the emirate's breakneck growth.The sudden move by the Gulf...
- News items 2009-11-25
- Dubai Struggles to Ease Debt Default Fears
- By Tamara Walid and Jeremy GauntDUBAI/LONDON (Reuters UK) - Dubai struggled to ease fears of debt default on Thursday after its move to delay repayments at two flagship firms shook confidence in the Middle East as a centre for investment and a source of capital.Dubai's debt problems, a hangover from...
- News items 2009-11-26
- Valassis May Not Be Able to Pay Debt; Litigation May "Materially Harm" the Company
- Valassis may not be able to meet its debt obligations and its litigation against News America Marketing Group may "materially harm" the company, according to a filing with the SEC. The worst-case scenario? "Bankruptcy or liquidation," the company says. The disclosure, in a 10-K filed on a...
- Blog posts 2009-03-06
- NAB says bad debt cycle stabilising as full-year cash earnings fall 1.9% in 2009
- By a staff reporter, with Reuters/AAP National Australia Bank Ltd NAB has posted a 1.9 per cent fall in cash earnings for the 2009 financial year as bad debt charges and high funding costs impacted its bottom line, but says the bad debt cycle is beginning to stabilise. NAB, Australia's...
- News items 2009-10-27
- A 'Personal' Look at Debt
- Sudden Debt submits: It is common enough to look at debt as a percentage of GDP, DPI, etc. but that's so... impersonal. So here are a couple of very scary charts that look at things from a dollars per person perspective click on charts to enlarge. Debt per person and...
- External links 2009-11-01
- Sovereign Debt, Structural Adjustment and Conditionality
- The lack of proper enforcement mechanism for sovereign debt generates a commitment failure. As a result, a sovereign may seek to improve its position in debt renegotiations and thus evade its debt obligations by reducing exports. It is shown in the paper that conditionality helps the repayment of sovereign debt....
- White papers 1996-11-01
