The difference between general provisions for bad debts and specific provisions for bad debts is:

(a) General provisions only relate to loans made to serving members of the military.

(b) That only general provisions will increase in times of economic booms.

(c) General provisions look at the general characteristics of a loan to determine if it is likely to experience financial distress while specific provisions look at the specific features of a loan contract to identify the likelihood of loan default.

(d) General provisions consider the implications of the next periods economic cycle while specific provisions consider the current prospects of each loan.