Some business leaders and consumer activists are worried about the ease of accruing debt secured by the borrower's home.

Borrowers in this situation have an incentive to default on their mortgages as a mortgage is typically nonrecourse debt secured against the property.

This applies to any mortgages on your home or other debts secured by your home.

Money is created by private banks in the form of debt secured against assets.

Normally, only unsecured debts not secured by real assets like homes or autos can be settled.

And according to Mr. Kalikow's reports, he has about $835.3 million of debt secured by some of his assets.

United is facing a Dec. 2 deadline for making a $375 million payment on debt secured by aircraft.

Second, the deduction is limited to interest on debts secured by a principal residence or a second home.

The worry is that many people are tempted to consolidate unsecured debt into secured debt, usually secured against their home.

This is not quite like Enron, which also had a lot of debt secured by a promise to issue stock.