Glossary of Terms

Accelerated payment
Scheduled payment plus additional monthly payment. Leads to quicker payoff of debt and less interest paid over life of loan.
Account condition
Each account on your credit report has an "Account Condition." It indicates the present state of the account (current, past due, etc.), but does not indicate the payment history of the account.
Account monitoring
Once lendersA person or company that offers to lend money to a borrower for a given period of time. make a yes decision they might want to review your credit report on a regular basis as they continue to manage their financial risk. This monitoring, called account monitoring, scans credit reports for certain risk characteristics as defined by the lenderA person or company that offers to lend money to a borrower for a given period of time.. Federal law specifically permits lendersA person or company that offers to lend money to a borrower for a given period of time. to monitor their accounts. When you signed your credit application you gave the lenderA person or company that offers to lend money to a borrower for a given period of time. permission to access your credit report from time to time.
Accounts in good standing
Lists credit items that are positive and should help your creditworthiness. Account information includes the creditor's name and address, your account number, the status (current, paid, closed, etc.), type and terms of the account, and additional information as reported to us by your creditors. Some creditors may not report to us, so all of your accounts may not be listed.
Acquisition fee
Refers to the price to purchase another company or property.
Additional monthly payment
The amount of your extra payment per month. This amount is in addition to your minimum required payment. This payment will be used to reduce your principal balance more quickly than if you only made your regular payment.
Adjustable rate mortgage
A mortgage where the interest rate is liable to change over the term of the loan and which is dependent on influences such as interest rates on Treasury securities.
Adjustment
The percentage of debt to be repaid to credit grantors in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
Affinity card
A card that is offered jointly by two organizations. One is a credit card issuer and the other is a professional association, special interest group or other non-bank company. For example, Citibank and American Airlines sponsor the Citibank AAdvantage card.
AKA
Also Known As
Amortization
The process of fully paying off your debt by installments of principal and earned interest over a fixed time.
Amount past due
Current amount delinquent on a loan.
Annual Fee
The once-a-year cost of owning a credit card. Some credit card providers offer cards with no annual fee. The annual fee, with interest, and other fees are part of the total cost of credit.
Annual income
Your yearly income. For married couples this is your total combined yearly income.
Annual interest rate
The amount of interest you will pay over one year expressed as a percentage of your balance.
Annual Percentage Rate (APR)
A measure of how much interest credit will cost you expressed as an annual percentage.
Annual rate of return
The pretax rate of return on the amount you earn on savings and investments. For example, the long-term rate of return for investments in the stocks that make up the S&P 500 is about 11%. A savings account earns 2% to 5%.
Appraisal
An expert judgement or estimate of the quality or value of real estate, made by an appraiser, as of a given date.
Appraisal fee
The charge for estimating the value of property offered as security.
Asset
Anything owned by an individual that has a cash value. This includes property, goods, savings or investments.
Association code
Describes the consumer's relationship to an account (primary responsibility, authorized users, etc.).
Authorized user
Person permitted by a credit cardholder to charge goods and services on the cardholder's account. The card holder is responsible for charges made by an authorized user.
Average daily balance
The average daily balance is a method used to calculate finance charges on an account. It is calculated by adding the outstanding balance on each day in the billing period, and dividing that total by the number of days in the billing period. The calculation includes new purchases and payments. The daily interest rate is then applied to the daily balance to calculate the finance charge.