Glossary
Credit terms, plainly defined
Last updated:
- APR
- Annual Percentage Rate — the yearly cost of borrowing including fees.
- Authorized User
- Someone added to another's credit card who inherits its history.
- Charge-off
- An account a creditor has written off as uncollectable, still owed.
- Credit Bureau
- Agency that compiles consumer credit reports: Equifax, Experian, TransUnion.
- Credit Mix
- The variety of credit accounts on your file.
- Credit Utilization
- Balances owed ÷ total available credit.
- FCRA
- Fair Credit Reporting Act — federal law governing credit reports.
- FICO Score
- Credit score model produced by Fair Isaac Corp.
- Hard Inquiry
- Lender pull that can lower your score 1–5 points.
- ITIN
- Individual Taxpayer Identification Number issued by the IRS.
- Soft Inquiry
- A pull that doesn't affect your score (self-pulls, prequals).
- Tradeline
- Any account that reports to a credit bureau.
- VantageScore
- Joint scoring model from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.