Blanton Plastics, a household plastic product manufacturer, borrowed $$9$ million cash on October $1,2024,$ to provide working capital for year$-$end production. Blanton issued a four$-$month, $15\%$ promissory note to L&T Bank under a prearranged short$-$term line of credit. Interest on the note was payable at maturity. Each firm's fiscal period is the calendar year.

Required:

Prepare the journal entries to record $($a$)$ the issuance of the note by Blanton Plastics and $($b$)$ L&T Bank's receivable on October $1,2024.$

Prepare the journal entries by both firms to record all subsequent events related to the note through January $31,2025.$

Suppose the face amount of the note was adjusted to include interest $($a noninterest$-$bearing note$)$ and $15\%$ is the bank's stated discount rate. $($a$)$ Prepare the journal entries to record the issuance of the noninterest$-$bearing note by Blanton Plastics on October $1,2024,$ the adjusting entry at December $31,$ and payment of the note at maturity. $($b$)$ What would be the effective interest rate?