In
finance, the term debt compliance describes various
legal
Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...
measures taken to ensure that
debtors, whether individuals,
businesses, or
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...
s, honor their
debt
Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...
s and make an honest effort to repay the money that they owe. Generally regarded as a subdivision of
tax law
Tax law or revenue law is an area of legal study in which public or sanctioned authorities, such as federal, state and municipal governments (as in the case of the US) use a body of rules and procedures (laws) to assess and collect taxes in a ...
, debt compliance is most often enforced through a combination of
audits and legal restrictions. For example, a provision of the
Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act of 1990 The Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act of 1990 (FDCPA), Title XXXVI of the Crime Control Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-647, 104 Stat. 4789, 4933 (Nov. 29, 1990), is a United States federal law passed in 1990, affecting collection of money owed to ...
states that a person or organization indebted to the United States, against whom a judgment
lien
A lien ( or ) is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation. The owner of the property, who grants the lien, is referred to as the ''lienee'' and the per ...
has been filed, is ineligible to receive a government
grant
Grant or Grants may refer to:
Places
*Grant County (disambiguation)
Australia
* Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia
United Kingdom
* Castle Grant
United States
* Grant, Alabama
* Grant, Inyo County, ...
. Noncompliance, depending on severity and frequency, may be punished by
fine or even
incarceration in
debtor's prison
A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.Cory, Lucinda"A Histori ...
.
Debt
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