Talk:IOU

California
I'd love to see someone who has some insight into the california IOU add a section outlining the terms etc.wren337 (talk) 18:55, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Official use of IOUs
The state of California 'paid' his employees in 1992 during a budget crisis with IOUs for several weeks. Arnold Schwarzenegger mentioned this as a potential option again in 2009. So the public use of IOUs would be an important topic for this article. --Emil Bild (talk) 09:33, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

I.O.U were issued by City of Chicago in 30s, probably there were other cases Larytet (talk) 15:47, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Requested move (1)

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: Move both as proposed by Cybercobra. Ucucha 17:47, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

IOU (debt) → IOU — The informal acknowledgement of debt is the primary topic. 3 of the other uses are named for it, and the remaining meanings of "IOU" are comparatively obscure. Cyber cobra (talk) 07:27, 17 January 2010 (UTC)


 * IOU → IOU (disambiguation)


 * I would normally support this since the other uses at IOU are derivative but IOU (debt) is not a particularly encyclopedically notable topic and therefore does not have automatic claim to primary topic-hood. —   AjaxSmack   05:11, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
 * FWIW, there are economics-related books using it as a title (speaks to cultural impact), and the IOUs issued by the state of California got significant news coverage. Merging & redirecting to a more formal equivalent such as promissory note is also an option. --Cyber cobra (talk) 05:46, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
 * To be clear, I don't oppose the proposal. —   AjaxSmack   03:54, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

I added a short "IOU (debt)" section to the article Warrant (of Payment) so that the IOU (debt) article can be REDIRECTed to the "Warrant (of Payment)" article. Greensburger (talk) 06:30, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure that would be the best merge target; while I can see overlooking the difference in specifying a specific repayment time, the rest of the definition of a warrant of payment doesn't fit quite as well (California media's use of the term notwithstanding): "a warrant is a written order from a first person that instructs a second person to pay a specified recipient [...]" --Cyber cobra (talk) 06:50, 23 January 2010 (UTC)


 * True, it is an order to a treasurer to pay a specified recipient, but the face of the Warrant promises to pay: "The treasurer of California will pay out of Fund 1234" or "... out of available funds". That makes it a non-negotiable and unenforceable promise, just like an informal IOU.  So Warrants and IOUs are similar. Greensburger (talk) 07:23, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I agree, it's just that promissory note seems more similar, imo (if one wants to opt for a merge). It's also entirely possible we're overlooking some third, even better target (I'm not a finance person). :-) --Cyber cobra  (talk) 08:02, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Promissory notes are negotiable and enforceable promises to pay, unlike warrants and IOUs. Greensburger (talk) 08:27, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Promissory notes are not necessarily negotiable and unlike warrants are directly between the payer and payee. IOUs are of course neither promissory notes nor warrants; they're not promissory notes in that they're unenforceable and they're not warrants in that there's only 2 parties involved; and unlike both, IOUs don't typically specify a repayment date. I personally just find the unenforceability a less drastic difference than the number of parties. --Cyber cobra (talk) 09:06, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

American only
Does IOU only apply to America? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.227.160.145 (talk) 13:40, 22 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Don't think so -- gambling IOU's or "debts of honor" were well-known in early 19th-century England... AnonMoos (talk) 16:45, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

Requested move (2)
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:IOU (disambiguation) which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 20:00, 25 April 2014 (UTC)