In addition, clubs will no longer be able to skirt the salary cap by backloading contracts with balloon payments.

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After construction, the elder Mr. Spiliadis, 74, applied for the loan to roll into a 20-year mortgage with balloon payments every three years.

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In Congress, a predatory-lending bill sponsored by Senator Paul Sarbanes would prohibit balloon payments, among other things, in which the bulk of a loan is left unpaid at maturity, often without the full understanding of the borrower who then cannot repay.

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Instead, they entail a series of balloon, as in big, payments.

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Example: Lenders could face liability for pushing balloon mortgages to retirees living on a fixed income, or for committing debt-laden borrowers to loans with monthly payments that exclude taxes and insurance.

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