Affinity fraud is not a singular specific type of fraud but is rather defined as any and all frauds targeted towards members of an identifiable group of individuals such as those with a common religion, ethnic heritage, background, or...
banking
Investor Protection Guide: Auction Rate Securities
Auction rate securities (ARS) are debt or preferred equity securities whose interest rates are periodically reset through auctions and which are issued with long-term maturities or in perpetuity. ARS were promoted as being as safe as...
Investor Protection Guide: Ponzi Scheme
Named after Charles Ponzi, who infamously bilked investors out of millions of dollars in the 1920s, a Ponzi scheme is an investment scam that involves the payment of abnormally high "returns" to investors that are actually paid from money...
IRA
Individual retirement accounts (IRA) allow employees to create personal retirement accounts that receive the tax benefits of an employee sponsored 401k plan. IRAs can be created at many banks and investment companies with a variety of...
judicial foreclosure
In some jurisdictions, mortgagees must get a court order to foreclose on a mortgage. This is called a judicial foreclosure. Judicial foreclosures (like all foreclosures), are governed by the law of the jurisdiction that the mortgaged property...
jumbo loan
A jumbo loan, or jumbo mortgage, is a mortgage loan that exceeds the limit set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The 2023 FHFA limit for a single-family home in most states is $726,200. There are exceptions for high-cost areas...
junior lien
A junior lien is a security interest on a property that is subordinate to another security interest. The prioritized security interest is called a senior lien and paid back in full prior to payment of the junior lien. If the debtor becomes...
kiter
A kiter is a person who kites checks.
[Last updated in June of 2023 by the Wex Definitions Team]
kiting
Kiting or check-kiting is the practice of covering a bad check from one bank account to another. Persons with multiple bank accounts use this advantage because it takes multiple days to process checks. The check that has been deposited...
lender
A lender refers to an individual or financial institution that provides loans to an individual, corporation, or public department in exchange for the principal and interest. A lender could be a bank, an insurance company, or a government...