Legal tender

Legal tender or forced tender is an offered payment that, by law, cannot be refused in settlement of a debt, and have the debt remain in force. The origin of the word is from Middle English tendren, from Anglo-French tendre (verb form), meaning to offer. The Latin root is tenere (to hold), and the sense of tender as an offer is related to the etymology of the English word extend (to hold outward). The noun form of a tender as an offering is a back-formation of the noun from the verb. Legal tender is variously defined in different jurisdictions. Formally, it is anything which when offered in payment extinguishes the debt. Thus, personal cheques, credit cards, debit cardsand similar non-cash methods of payment are not usually legal tender. The law does not relieve the debt until payment is accepted. Coins and notes are usually defined as legal tender. Some jurisdictions may forbid or restrict payment made other than by legal tender. For example, such a law might outlaw the use of foreign coins and bank notes, or require a license to perform financial transactions in a foreign currency.