Glossary of Credit Related Terms

Secured Credit Card

A credit card secured by a savings account that has been established in advance by the borrower. The amount in the account usually determines the limit on the credit card. These accounts present no real risk factor for creditors and are therefore much easier to obtain.

Secured Credit Card Or Loan

A consumer uses savings or other collateral to guarantee the credit card or loan; the limit of credit is based on the amount of collateral available.

Security Interest

The creditor's right to take property or a portion of property offered as security.

Seller's Points

A lump sum paid by the seller to the buyer's creditor to reduce the cost of the loan to the buyer. This payment is either required by the creditor or volunteered by the seller, usually in a loan to buy real estate. Generally, one point equals one percent of the loan amount.

Service Charge

A component of some finance charges, such as the fee for triggering an overdraft checking account into use.

SET Protocol

Secure electronic transaction protocol, an encryption technology designed to allow secure electronic transactions between card issuers, merchants and consumers. Unsecured information sent over the Internet can be intercepted. When making purchases online, you should consider a secure browser that complies with industry standards, such as secure sockets layer (SSL) or secure hypertext transfer protocol (S-HTTP). These often are included with Internet connection services.

Smart Card

A card containing a central processing unit (CPU) that stores and secures information and makes decisions, as required by the card issuer's specific application needs.

Statement

The monthly bill from a credit card issuer that describes and summarizes the activity on an account. A statement includes the outstanding balance, purchases, payments, credits, finance charges and other transactions for the month.

Statement Date

The date on which a statement is generated, and the month's finance charges (interest) are added to the balance.

Status

A credit report will describe the status of your accounts -- the type of account (charge, credit or installment loan) and whether your account has been paid on time, is past due or canceled.

Stored Value Card

An information storage card that contains stored value, which the user can "spend" in a pay phone, retail, vending or related transaction.

Surcharge

An extra charge imposed on those who purchase with a credit card instead of cash. (Currently, surcharges for credit card purchases are prohibited.)