Credit, Debt & Lending Financial Terms & Definitions

34 terms in this topic

This category includes vocabulary for loans, credit scores, interest rates, debt instruments, lending institutions, and repayment structures. It helps users understand how credit works, how debt is managed, and the roles of borrowers and lenders in financial transactions.

D

Debt

Debt is a financial obligation that occurs when one party borrows money from another. The borrower receives a sum of…

Full Definition
D

Default

Default is a financial term that describes the failure of a borrower to meet the legal obligations or conditions of…

Full Definition
E

Equifax

Equifax is one of the three major credit bureaus (along with Experian and TransUnion) that collect and maintain consumer credit…

Full Definition
E

Experian

Experian is one of the three major credit reporting agencies (along with Equifax and TransUnion) that collect and maintain consumer…

Full Definition
Credit score (FICO) A credit score (FICO) is a three-digit number that lenders use to quickly evaluate your creditworthiness — how… Credit utilization ratio Your credit utilization ratio is a key number that shows how much of your available credit you are… Debt Debt is a financial obligation that occurs when one party borrows money from another. The borrower receives a… Debt-to-income (DTI) ratio The Debt-to-Income (DTI) ratio is a personal finance metric that compares your total monthly debt payments to your… Default Default is a financial term that describes the failure of a borrower to meet the legal obligations or… Delinquency Delinquency is a term used in credit and lending to describe a situation where a borrower fails to… Down payment A down payment is an upfront, partial payment made by a buyer when purchasing a high-value asset, most… Equifax Equifax is one of the three major credit bureaus (along with Experian and TransUnion) that collect and maintain… Experian Experian is one of the three major credit reporting agencies (along with Equifax and TransUnion) that collect and… Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law enacted in 1970 that promotes the accuracy, fairness,… Hard inquiry A hard inquiry (also called a hard pull or hard credit check) is a record of when a… Installment debt Installment debt is a type of loan that is repaid over time with a set number of scheduled…