LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP
We are not quite through with the note.
When making a payment of principal or interest on a note, be sure
to take a receipt for the amount, stating specifically what the
payment is to be credited to. In addition, if it be possible, see
that the sum paid be endorsed on the back of the note itself.
The endorsement of the sum paid on the back of the note bars its
being negotiated for more than the amount actually due.
Sometimes the owner and the maker of a note live at points some
distance apart. If you were the maker of the note, and wanted to
make a payment, but wished to avoid the expense and annoyance of a
trip, what should be done?
In this case a good plan would be to write to the owner of the
note, asking him to send it by a certain bank in your neighborhood
where you can pay. The bank will receive the cash, make the
endorsement in your presence, and then send its check for the
amount with the note to the owner.
You must pay the cost of this transaction.
Or you may send the amount to be credited on your note, through a
bank draft, as already indicated.
Never destroy a cancelled note.
NOTES IN BANK
If you have money at a bank your note will form the chief evidence
of indebtedness and be the paper for which the security is
pledged.
Keep careful track of the date of payment and the amount. There
must be no neglect or carelessness.
Never permit your note to go to protest.
If for any reason payment cannot be made at the time fixed, then
the better way is to go, as soon as this is learned, to the bank
or other holder of the note, and frankly explain the situation.
Bankers are not shylocks. They realize that good and responsible
men are often disappointed in their collections, or in the payment
of a sum on which they depended for the settlement of their
account with the bank, and in such a case they are usually willing
to grant an extension.
Private individuals, as note holders, should be treated in just
the same way.
WELL TO KNOW
When calling at a bank for your note, always give the exact date
on which the note falls due.
If the note belongs to another party, and is held by the bank for
collection, then mention the name of the person to whom it was
originally given.
If the bank has sent you a written notice about the note, take the
notice with you. It will be found to contain all the desired
facts.
Banks keep their own notes in one place and those of their
customers in another.
Banks keep each date by itself, and can so find required notes
more readily if the owner's names and the dates are given.
DISCHARGING LIENS
Remember a mortgage is a lien or security given for the payment of
a note.
If you get a mortgage, have it recorded at once.
If you pay off a mortgage, take it at once to the office of record
and have the discharge of the instrument properly entered on the
folio in which the mortgage is recorded.
Many lawsuits have resulted from the temporary neglect of this
important duty.
BE PROMPT, BUT NOT TOO PROMPT
Sometimes a man will give a number of notes and secure them by one
mortgage.
The notes may pass into the hands of a number of people.
Let us suppose that you hold one note and the mortgage, and that
the mortgagee comes to you and tenders the amount of your note,
should you then surrender the mortgage to him?
By no means, until the last note is paid that mortgage remains as
security, and the holder of it is responsible for its safety to
the holders of the other notes.
In such a case it is better to have the mortgage held by one party
for the protection of all.
BE IN NO HASTE TO INVEST
When a person not accustomed to managing money comes into the
possession of a sum that it is not safe to carry about in the
pocket, what should he do with it?
Obviously the first answer to this question must be "He should put
it in the bank."
We have already given hints as to investments, and to these it is
not necessary to refer again, we are now considering another and
not an unusual phase of such a case.
Young men and women of all ages are very apt to be inexperienced
in these matters. As soon as it becomes known that such people
have come into the possession of a goodly amount of cash, which
they are not considered competent to manage, it is surprising how
past acquaintances suddenly pose as old and unselfish friends,
each with a scheme for doubling the money while the owner is
looking at it.
Now, there may be good, honest friends who are eager to advise and
help in a case of this kind, but they are sure to be outnumbered
by advisers who have their own little axes to grind.
Our advice is "Don't be in a hurry to invest. Your cash is quite
safe while in bank."
But no matter how promising, do not invest your money in a
business you know nothing about, even if it does carry with it a
position and a salary.
Find a good honest lawyer, despite sneers to the contrary, we
believe most men in the profession are of this character, and ask
his advice, and pay for his help if papers are to be drawn.
Buying rentable real estate is usually a good investment, provided
always that the price is reasonable, the title clear, and the
chances of its advancement pretty certain.
MEET YOUR DUES PROMPTLY
It is estimated that every man and woman in the United States
belongs to one or more societies of some character, and this is
not an overstatement.
Every member of such an organization is such by reason of election
and the payment of dues.
If you are a member of, or a pledged contributor to, a church,
lodge, grange, or other society, you should regard the prompt
payment of your dues as sacred as any other form of obligation.
The expenses of a properly conducted church are always
considerable, even in small communities. It is a disgrace to the
Christian organization that, after forcing down the pastor's
compensation to the barest cost of life's necessities, then force
him to run into debt if he and his family would live, or to be
forced continually to remind the trustees that his salary is far
in arrears.
If you belong to a lodge or other society, leave it if you
honestly feel that you cannot afford the dues. Neglect to do this
and your name will be dropped from the rolls on which it never
should have been placed.
COUNTING MONEY
Never receive money from any one without counting it. Count it at
once and in the presence of the giver.
Let it make no difference, banker, merchant, kinsman or friend, do
not fear to give offence, but right then and there, count the
money he gave you.
Of course, these people are honest, but did it ever occur to you
that honest people often make mistakes?
Whenever you pay another money, if he does not do so himself, you
should insist that he count it in your presence.
If you do this you won't lose a friend, but if you do not do it
you may make an enemy, should the man come back to say you made a
mistake and underpaid him, and you very properly refuse to honor
his claim.
READY MONEY
Do not, if you can possibly avoid it, keep money around your
house, in your place of business, or on your person.
The professional thief is ever on the watch for chances to take
unto himself all the money in sight.
Pickpockets reap their harvest from money carriers.
The burglar may steal or fire may destroy money left in the house.
A bank, if not near one then a safe, is the best place for money,
though safes have been broken into and robbed.
Do not make a display of money at any time, but particularly in a
public place.
If you are drawing money from a bank, count it quickly and
quietly, then secure it in an inside pocket that cannot be reached
without unbuttoning.
Never cash a check for a man whom you do not know to be square.
The same applies to the endorsement of checks.
IN TRAVELLING
Always be courteous in travelling, but never take the chance
acquaintance of the steamboat or car into your confidence.
Keep an eye on the man who "fortunately is going just your way."
Watch out for the fellow who knows the leading men of your town
and is a cousin of Judge Smith.
Do not respond if such men ask you to cash a small check or make a
slight advance till his draft arrives.
Do not accept the invitation of strangers to visit any place.
Avoid the confidence of the over-dressed, but slightly intoxicated
young fellow who "has been out with college chums." He is not a
college man, nor has he been drinking.