In 2007, Mr. Bowman asked for an accounting of his loans, the payment deferrals he had used and his repayment options.
The budget was cobbled together by a combination of rosy economic estimates and a series of fee increases, payment deferrals and borrowings that dropped California's credit rating into the cellar.
I.B.M. CORP., Armonk, N.Y., the computer maker, said that from today through Dec. 31 it would offer 90-day payment deferrals to customers buying most types of its hardware and software, to discourage companies from delaying their buying decisions until next year.
All the restructuring, wage concessions and pension-fund payment deferrals coming from congressional relief won't suffice if the consumer-spending cycle is topping out.
But that involves only internal borrowing and payment deferrals.
Moody's succinctly spells out the causes of the state's credit decline: "governance weaknesses, bill payment deferrals, chronic structural budget gaps, and soaring unfunded pension liabilities".
Further detailing the downgrade, Moody's said Illinois's "chronic use of payment deferrals to manage operating fund cash" presented a major challenge to its financial wellbeing.
The federal Small Business Administration offers disaster loans and loan-payment deferral to owners of small businesses if they or essential employees are called up.
They will use a fast-track process to lower troubled borrowers' monthly payments to an affordable level, either through a longer repayment term, a lower interest rate or deferral of payment on part of the principal.
Some analysts suggest that the deferral of payment in this way will encourage advisers – who receive a team bonus for meeting targets – to spend less energy on the difficult cases.
