Negotiable Instruments / Payment Systems

This lesson is designed to be used either as an introduction or as a review of the parties who are involved with negotiable instruments governed by Article 3 of the Uniform Commercial Code. This lesson will teach you to identify the various players who are involved in the use of negotiable instruments. It can be used to introduce you to these players, help you sort them out, or to reinforce what you already understand.

Credit cards allow the cardholder to make purchases without using cash since the purchases are made with debt. The terms of the lending arrangement are governed by the agreement between the cardholder and the issuer, but federal regulations play an important part. In this lesson we will look at issuance of credit cards, disclosure requirements, use of credit cards, and the risk of error and loss on credit cards.

Bank debit cards (sometimes called bank cards or ATM cards) may look like credit cards, but they do not typically have the same features or provide the same protections against loss. Debit cards are associated with a checking (or savings) account owned by the customer. In this lesson we will look at issuance of debit cards, disclosure requirements, imposition of overdraft fees, and the handling of errors and losses on debit cards.

A letter of credit is a document that operates as a payment method whereby parties doing business can enhance the likelihood of payment (typically for goods) through obtaining a form of payment guaranty from a financial institution. In this lesson we will look at the rules governing letters of credit, namely UCC Article 5 and the Uniform Customs and Practices 600. In particular, we will look at how these rules help in the resolution of pre and post honor disputes concerning letters of credit.

The goal of this lesson is to introduce the basic documents involved in a letter of credit transaction by studying one particular transaction.

This lesson is designed to introduce the student to the role of the mortgage note and the applicable law. This should be of interest to students studying real estate and to students studying negotiable instruments. If you are not already familiar with negotiable instruments, you should go through the CALI lesson entitled "What's a Negotiable Instrument" before trying this lesson. It will focus on the 1990 version of the UCC because that is the law in most states.

This is an advanced lesson that requires an understanding of the basics of negotiable instruments. Before doing this lesson you should at least know what a negotiable instrument is, the significance of it being a negotiable instrument, who can enforce a negotiable instrument, who is a holder in due course, and the benefits of being a holder in due course, subjects covered in other lessons.

This is the sixth in a series of lessons, by this author, covering the basics of negotiable instruments law. It explains the obligations that one incurs by becoming a party to a negotiable instrument, whether as a maker, drawer, indorser, or acceptor.

This lesson addresses two questions: (1) What is a negotiable instrument? (2) Why does it matter if something is a negotiable instrument? This lesson can be used to introduce you to the topic of negotiable instruments and to these two subjects. It can also be used to review and reinforce knowledge you have already acquired.

This lesson is designed to teach you how to figure out whether a person is a Holder in Due Course. It can be used as an introduction or for reinforcement. It would be best if you did the following lessons before this one: What is a Negotiable Instrument; Travel of a Negotiable Instrument; and The Cast of Characters in Negotiable Instruments.