This term means using someone else’s money and agreeing to pay it back later.
What is credit?
One major advantage of credit is having access to these in emergencies.
What are emergency funds (or an emergency line of credit)?
This type of credit can be reused as long as you stay under the limit.
What is open-end credit?
These member-only financial institutions often offer lower interest rates than banks.
What are credit unions?
Your complete record of borrowing and repayment is known as your what?
What is your credit history?
Before credit cards, stores tracked purchases in handwritten ledgers known as these.
What are charge accounts (or store credit)?
This is the total interest and fees you pay for borrowing money.
What is a finance charge?
A loan or credit account that does not require collateral is called this.
What is unsecured credit?
These lenders target people in emergencies with extremely high interest rates, like payday loans.
What are predatory lenders?
This “C” of creditworthiness measures your ability to repay a loan based on income.
What is capacity?
These 19th-century plans let people buy expensive goods and pay over time.
What are installment plans?
This disadvantage occurs when consumers believe credit allows them to buy more than they can realistically afford.
What is overspending?
The yearly cost of borrowing money, including interest, is expressed as this percentage.
What is APR (annual percentage rate)?
This modern type of lending lets individuals borrow money directly from one another through online platforms, without a traditional bank.
What is peer-to-peer lending (P2P)?
What are the three major credit bureaus that collect and store credit information?
What is Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion?
Credit became necessary when the U.S. economy shifted from bartering to this.
What is a currency exchange economy?
This type of billing lets customers delay a payment for a set time.
What is deferred billing?
This timeframe lets you pay your credit card balance in full without being charged interest.
What is a grace period?
This type of lender is unlicensed and illegal, charging extremely high interest rates and often using intimidation to collect payments.
What is a loan shark?
This process prevents lenders from accessing your credit unless you specifically authorize it, protecting you from fraudulent accounts.
What is a credit freeze?
The introduction of these in the 20th century greatly expanded personal purchasing power.
What are credit cards?
This term refers to the least amount you can pay on a credit card bill for the month.
What is the minimum payment.
This type of credit requires a deposit from the borrower and is often used to help people with no credit history begin building credit.
What is a secured credit card?
This state-level regulation sets the maximum interest rates that lenders may charge on consumer loans.
What is a usury law?
What are the five Cs of credit that help evaluate whether a borrower is creditworthy?
What is character, capacity, capital, conditions, and collateral?