Credit Cards Glossary

Featured Credit Cards Term: Automatic Payment - A payment that is automatically transferred from the customer's bank account to pay a bill (e.g. a monthly credit card bill), usually at a specific amount and on a certain date each month.

More Credit Cards Terms

A

• Additional Cardholder - An authorized person can...
• Affinity Credit Card - A credit card offered...
• Annual Fee - A yearly fee to...
• Annual Percentage Rate (APR) - The yearly percentage rate...
• Authorized User - A person authorized to...
• Automatic Payment - A payment that is...
• Available Credit - The amount remaining of...

B

• Balance Transfer - The movement of an...
• Balance Transfer Fee - A one-time fee charged...
• Balance Transfer Rate - The interest rate attached...
• Balance-to-Limit Ratio - A factor in determining...
• Billing Cycle - The time between billing...
• Business Credit Card - Also known as a...

C

• Cardholder Agreement - The document of terms...
• Cash Advance - A cash advance is...
• Cash Advance Fee - A one-time fee charged...
• Cash Advance Rate - The interest rate attached...
• Chargeback - A credit card user...
• Collection - A delinquent credit account...
• Cosigner - A person who signs...
• Credit Bureau - A company which, upon...
• Credit Freeze - A halt on transactions...
• Credit Inquiry - A request by a...
• Credit Limit - The total amount of...
• Credit Monitoring - The act of overseeing...
• Credit Report - A report of an...
• Credit Score - A three-digit number issued...

D

• Deadbeat - A term sometimes used...
• Debt Consolidation - In credit card terms,...
• Default - A credit card loan...
• Double-Cycle Billing - Double-cycle billing is a...
• Due Date - The calendar date specified...

F

• Finance Charge - Interest costs and other...
• Fixed APR - Also know as "Fixed...
• Foreign Transaction Fee - A fee charged by...
• Fraud Alert - A security measured in...

G

• Go-To Rate - Refers to the interest...
• Grace Period - The time allowed to...

I

• Instant Decision - Also called "Instant Response."...
• Introductory APR - Also known as an...

J

• Joint Credit - A line of credit...

L

• Late Fee - A one-time fee charged...
• Linked Transfer Account - A person who has...

M

• Minimum Finance Charge - If a cardholder carries...
• Minimum Payment - The minimum amount of...

N

• Nondischargeable Debt - Debt that cannot be...

O

• Overdraft Protection - When a consumer chooses...
• Overlimit Fee - A fee charged when...

P

• Periodic Finance Charge - The finance charge for...
• Piggybacking - The practice of signing...
• Plastic - A generic term used...
• Prepaid Card - A secured, stored-value card...

R

• Regular APR - Also known as "ongoing...
• Reward Program - A program offered by...

S

• Schumer Box - Senator Charles E. Schumer...
• Secured Credit Card - A credit card that...
• Statement - A document present by...
• Student Credit Card - A credit card built...

T

• Teaser Rate - An introductory annual percentage...
• Two-Cycle Billing - A method of computing...

U

• Universal Default - A clause that allows...
• Unsecured Credit Card - A credit card that...

V

• Variable APR - An annual percentage rate...

W

• Wage Garnishing - A method debt collectors...

Z

• Zombie Debt - Essentially, zombie debt is...