Credit Vocabulary

A yearly fee that may be charged for having a specific credit card, independent of how you use the card

• Annual Fee

• Transfer Fee

• Maintenance Fee

• Overdraft Fee

The cost you pay each year to borrow money, including fees, expressed as a percentage

• APR (Annual Percentage Rate)

• ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage)

• Compound Interest

• CCA (Credit Card Agreement)

The act of transferring debt from one credit card account to another, usually for a fee

• Balance Transfer

• Cash Advance

• Cash Back

• Collateral

A credit card service that allows cardholders to withdraw a certain amount of cash, either through an ATM or directly from a bank, typically at a high interest rate or for a fee

• Cash Advance

• Credit Card Rewards

• Credit Line

• Balance Transfer

A credit card benefit that pays the cardholder a small percentage of their net expenditures, often as cash, payment toward their balance, reward points, travel miles, or gift cards

• Cash Back

• Credit Report

• Introductory APR

• Airline Rewards

Something valuable that the lender can take as payment if you can't or don't repay your secured loan

• Collateral

• Downpayment

• Credit Score

• Credit Agreement

A legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments by forcing the sale of the property

• Foreclosure

• Tax Lein

• Collections

A three-digit number (ranging from 300-850) based on an individual's credit history detailed in a credit report

• Credit Score

• Credit History

A document with information about a person’s credit activity and history

• Credit Report

• Credit Score

• Collections

A loan in which the interest rate can change, based on prime rate or index rate, over the course of the loan

• Variable - Rate Loan

• Fixed Rate Loan