Credit glossary
Plain-language definitions for the terms that appear across credit reports, scores, and monitoring products.
A
- Account Age — How long a credit account has been open.
- Account Takeover — When a thief gains control of an existing account.
- Alert Response — The steps taken after a credit monitoring alert.
- alternative-credit-data
- annualcreditreport
- Authorized User — A person added to another person's credit card account.
B
- Background Check — An investigation of a person's records, which may include credit, criminal and employment history.
- Bankruptcy — A legal process for dealing with unmanageable debt.
- Bureau Lock — A credit lock offered directly by a credit reporting agency.
C
- Charge-Off — An account a creditor has written off as unlikely to be collected.
- Child Identity Theft — Using a minor's information to commit fraud.
- collections
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — The federal agency that supervises consumer financial markets and publishes consumer tools.
- Consumer Statement — A short note a consumer may add to a credit report to explain a dispute or circumstance.
- cosigner
- Credit Check Company — A business that provides credit checks or screening reports.
- Credit File — The underlying data a credit reporting agency holds about a consumer.
- Credit History — The record of how a consumer has managed credit over time.
- Credit Invisible — Describing a consumer who has no credit file at a nationwide agency.
- Credit Limit — The maximum amount a creditor allows on a revolving account.
- Credit Monitoring Service — A company or product that provides credit monitoring.
- Credit Pull — An informal term for a credit check.
- Credit Score Model — A specific formula, such as a FICO or VantageScore version, that turns credit report data into a score.
- Credit Utilization Ratio — Balances divided by credit limits, expressed as a percentage.
- credit-alert
- credit-bureau
- credit-card-fraud
- credit-check
- credit-counseling
- credit-freeze
- credit-inquiry
- credit-lock
- credit-lock-service
- credit-mix
- credit-monitoring
- credit-profile
- credit-report
- credit-report-error
- credit-reporting-agency
- credit-score
- credit-score-range
- credit-utilization
- Creditworthiness — A lender's assessment of how likely a borrower is to repay.
D
- Dark Web — Parts of the internet not indexed by standard search engines where stolen data is traded.
- dark-web-monitoring
- data-breach
- Debt Management Plan — An arrangement, often through a counseling agency, to repay debts on a schedule.
- delinquency
- dispute
E
- employment-credit-check
- Extended Fraud Alert — A seven-year fraud alert that requires an identity theft report.
F
- fcra
- fico-score
- Foreclosure — A lender's process for taking a home after mortgage default.
- form-14039
- fraud-alert
- Free Credit Monitoring — Monitoring provided at no charge, often after a breach or with a card account.
- Free Credit Report — A credit report provided at no charge, as guaranteed by the FCRA.
- Freeze Cost — The price to place, lift or remove a credit freeze.
- Freeze PIN — A number some agencies issue to manage a credit freeze.
- Freeze vs. Alert — The difference between blocking access and prompting verification.
- ftc
H
I
- identity-monitoring
- identity-theft
- identity-theft-report
- IdentityTheft.gov — The federal website for reporting and recovering from identity theft.
- Initial Fraud Alert — A one-year fraud alert placed without an identity theft report.
- Inquiry — A record that a party requested a credit report.
- installment-loan
J
- Joint Account — A credit account shared by two or more people.
L
- Late Payment — A payment made after its due date.
- length-of-credit-history
- lift-freeze
- Lock Cost — The price of a credit lock.
- Lock vs. Alert — The difference between blocking access and prompting verification.
- lock-vs-freeze
M
- Medical Identity Theft — Using another person's information to obtain medical care or benefits.
- minor-freeze
- Monitoring vs. Freeze — The difference between watching a report and blocking access to it.
N
- Negative Item — Information that lenders view unfavorably, such as late payments, collections or bankruptcies.
- New Credit — Recently opened accounts and recent credit inquiries.
P
- payment-history
- Permissible Purpose — A reason allowed by the FCRA for a party to obtain a consumer credit report.
- phishing
- Police Report — An official report filed with law enforcement.
- public-record
R
- Recovery Plan — The set of steps taken to recover from identity theft.
- Reinvestigation — The process a credit reporting agency follows after a dispute.
- Remove a Freeze — To end a credit freeze entirely rather than lift it temporarily.
- Rent Reporting — Including rent payments in a credit file.
- Rental Credit Check — A credit check used when evaluating a rental application.
- Report Fraud — Fraudulent activity shown on a credit report, such as accounts opened by an identity thief.
- Repossession — A lender taking back collateral after default.
- Revolving Credit — Credit that can be used repeatedly up to a limit, such as a credit card.
S
- Scam — A deceptive scheme to obtain money or information.
- Score Band — A named segment of a credit score range, such as poor, fair, good or very good.
- Secured Credit Card — A card that requires a refundable security deposit.
- security-freeze
- Skimmer — A device or software used to capture card information.
- skimming
- Soft Credit Check — A credit check that is not shown to lenders and does not affect a score.
- soft-inquiry
- Synthetic Identity Theft — Combining real and fabricated information to create a new identity.
T
- Tax Identity Theft — Using someone's identity to file a fraudulent tax return or claim a refund.
- tenant-screening
- thaw
- thin-file
- Three-Bureau Monitoring — Credit monitoring that covers Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
- Tradeline — A single account entry on a credit report.
U
- Unlock Credit — To restore access after using a credit lock.
V
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