| 529 Plan | A 529 plan is a tax-advantaged investment vehicle in the United States designed to encourage saving for the future higher education expenses of a designated beneficiary. |
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| ATM Card | A plastic card issued by a financial institution that allows it's holder to make deposits and withdrawals through banking networks and convenience kiosks. |
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| Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) | An adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) is a mortgage loan where the interest rate on the note is periodically adjusted based on a variety of indices. |
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| Affinity Card | A credit card offered by a financial institution in partnership with a sponsoring organization. |
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| Airline Miles | Accurred points that are a typical benefit of an airline's frequent flyer or loyalty program. |
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| American Express | American Express Company is a travel, financial and network services company founded in 1850. |
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| Amortization | In accounting, the process by which the cost of an intangible asset is distributed over the projected useful life of the asset. |
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| Annual Fee | A yearly fee that is typically associated with a credit card. |
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| Annualized | The translation of a period to one year. |
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| Apr | Abbreviation for annual percentage rate. |
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| Balance Transfer | A transferal of the current amount owing on one credit card to another one. |
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| Billing Statement | A statement listing the purchases, payments and other debits and credits made to an account. |
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| Card Holder Agreement | The written statement that gives the terms and conditions of a credit card account. |
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| Cash Advance | Loan from a credit card account provided in cash. |
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| Cash Back | A credit card feature that returns to the cardholder a percentage of the total amount spent. |
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| Cash Cards | Another name for an ATM card. |
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| Cash Flow | Cash flow refers to the movement of cash into or out of a business or financial product. |
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| Charge Card | A payment card that requires a full payment of any charges at the end of each billing cycle. |
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| Charge Off | A debt that is deemed uncollectible. |
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| ChargeSmart.com | A web-based e-commerce business allowing credit card funded bill payments to be made through the Internet. ChargeSmart serves as an alternative payment channel for companies in the mortgage, auto, student and utility industries. |
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| Credit Bureau | A company that catalogs and sells information regarding the payment behavior of consumers and issues credit reports with related information. |
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| Credit Card Debt | Credit card debt is the unsecured consumer debt associated with a credit cards. |
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| Credit Card | A plastic card, with a magnetic strip or an embedded microchip, connected to a credit account and used to buy goods or services. |
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| Credit History | A record of an individual's or company's past borrowing and repaying. |
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| Credit Limit | A credit limit is the maximum amount of credit that a financial institution or other lender will extend to a debtor. |
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| Credit Line | A financial agreement under which a lender agrees to provide a client with loans of money up to an approved limit during a predefined period. |
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| Credit Rating | An estimate, based on a company or person's history of borrowing and repayment and/or available financial resources, that is used by creditors to determine the maximum amount of credit it can extend to a without undue risk. |
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| Credit Report | A document of the history and current status of a borrower's credit standing, and may include identifying information, credit information, public-records information, recent inquiries and credit score. |
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| Credit Score | A measure of credit risk, usually for a consumer, calculated from credit information using a standardized formula. |
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| Credit Scoring System | A system used to rate credit applicants according to various characteristics. |
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| Credit | A privilege of delayed payment extended to a buyer or borrower on the seller's or lender's belief that what is given will be repaid. |
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| Creditor | A person to whom a debt is owed. |
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| Debit Card | A card much like a credit card, but takes money directly from the bank account rather than borrowing money at a rate of interest, and uses a PIN instead of a signature. |
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| Discover | The Discover Card is a major credit card issued primarily in the United States that was originally introduced by Sears in 1985. |
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| Equifax | Equifax Inc. is a consumer credit reporting agency in the United States, considered one of the three largest American credit agencies |
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| Error (ChargeSmart) | A payment status indicating that a payment was sent to a biller and not accepted. Common errors include misspellings in names, or mistyped account numbers. |
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| Experian | Experian plc is a global credit information group. |
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| FDIC | The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a United States government corporation which guarantees the safety of deposits in member banks. |
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| Fair Credit Reporting Act | The Fair Credit Reporting Act is an American federal law that regulates the collection, dissemination, and use of consumer credit information. |
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| Federal Reserve | The central banking system of the United States. |
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| Finalized (ChargeSmart) | Indicates that a payment has been sent to, received, and accepted by a biller. |
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| Finance Charge | In United States law, a finance charge is any fee representing the cost of credit, or the cost of borrowing. |
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| Fixed Rate Mortgage (FRM) | A fixed rate mortgage (FRM) is a mortgage loan where the interest rate on the note remains the same through the term of the loan. |
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| Fixed Rate | An annual percentage rate that does not change. |
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| Foreclosure | The proceeding, by a creditor, to regain property or other collateral following a default on mortgage payments. |
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| Handling Charge (ChargeSmart) | The price one pays for services. |
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| Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) | A home equity loan is a type of loan in which the borrower uses the equity in their home as collateral. |
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| Identity Theft | The deliberate assumption of another person's identity, usually to gain access to that person's finances or to frame a person for a crime. |
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| Interest Rate | The percentage of an amount of money charged for its use per some period of time (often a year). |
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| Intro APR | A temporary reduced annual percentage rate. |
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| Late Charge | Penalty assessed for delinquent payments on a mortgage or installment loan. |
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| Liability | An obligation, debt or responsibility owed to someone. |
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| MasterCard | MasterCard Incorporated (MasterCard) is a global payment solutions company that provides a variety of services in support of the credit, debit and related payment programs of financial institutions and other entities that are its customers. |
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| Member Bank | A bank that has an agreement with a business to accept deposits generated by bankcard transactions. |
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| Minimum Payment | The lowest amount that you are required to pay as a portion of a the total amount owed. |
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| Mortgage | A special form of secured loan where the purpose of the loan must be specified to the lender, to purchase assets that must be fixed property such as a house or piece of farm land. |
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| Opportunity Cost | The cost of an opportunity forgone and the loss of the benefits that could be received from that opportunity. |
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| Payday Loan | A payday loan is a small, short-term loan that is intended to cover a borrower's expenses until his or her next payday. |
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| Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards | A worldwide security standard assembled by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. |
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| Penalty Rate | A penalty rate is an increase in annual percentage rate. |
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| Pre Approved | A conditional offer of credit from a credit issuer based on an individuals abbreviated credit bureau report. |
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| Prepaid Credit Card | A card similar to a gift card that is endorsed by a credit card company and does not require a checking account. |
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| Prime Rate | A term applied in many countries to a reference interest rate used by banks. |
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| Private Label Credit Cards | A credit card promoted by one organization, but operated by another. |
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| Queued (ChargeSmart) | The first stage of payment processing status after a payment is successfully submitted. |
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| Return On Investment (ROI) | The ratio of money gained or lost on an investment relative to the amount of money invested. |
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| Revolving Line of Credit | A type of credit that does not have a fixed number of payments. |
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| Rewards Card | A credit card program that promotes it's loyalty program as it's primary value. |
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| Rewards Program | A structured marketing effort that rewards and encourages loyal buying behaviour. |
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| Secured Credit Card | A secured credit card is a type of credit card secured by a deposit account owned by the cardholder. |
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| Secured Loan | A loan in which the borrower pledges some asset as collateral for the loan, which then becomes a secured debt owed to the creditor who gives the loan. |
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| Setup Fee | The price to start using a service. |
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| The Fair Credit Billing Act | A United States federal law enacted as an amendment to the Truth in Lending Act. Its purpose is to protect consumers from unfair billing practices and to provide a mechanism for addressing billing errors in "open end" credit accounts, such as credit card or charge card accounts. |
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| Unsecured Loan | A loan that is not backed by collateral. Also known as a signature loan or personal loan. |
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| Variable Rate | Any interest rate or dividend that changes on a periodic basis. Variable rates are often used for convertibles, mortgages, and certain other kinds of loans. The change is usually tied to movement of an outside indicator, such as the prime interest rate. Movement above or below certain levels is often prevented by a predetermined floor and ceiling for a given rate. |
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| Visa | A multinational corporation based in San Francisco, California, USA. The company operates the world's largest retail electronic payment network, managing payments among financial institutions, merchants, consumers, businesses and government entities. |
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| Yield | In finance, yield is a percentage that measures the cash returns to the owners of a security. Normally it does not include the price variations, at the difference of the total return. Yield applies to various stated rates of return on stocks (common and preferred, and convertible), fixed income (bonds, notes, bills, strips, zero coupon), and some other investment type insurance products (e.g. annuities). |
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