Credit Basics
What does APR stand for?
Annual Percentage Rate
How often does your credit score update?
Once a month.
A credit card that requires the holder to pay the balance in full each month.
What is a charge card?
A loan provided by the U.S. government.
What is a federal loan?
A person who guarantees to pay a borrower's debt if they default is known as this.
A co-signer
A 3 digit number reflecting how likely you are to pay back debt.
What is a credit score?
The 3 major credit card networks are Visa, Mastercard, and this one.
What is American Express OR Discover?
The two main types of federal student loans.
What are subsidized and unsubsidized?
The maximum amount of money a credit card company will allow someone to borrow.
What is a credit limit?
Types of different credit accounts you have. (Mortgage, loans, credit cards, etc.)
What is a credit mix?
The process of transferring balances from one credit card to another, usually to take advantage of lower interest rates.
A loan offered by banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions.
What is a private loan?
Type of inquiry occurred when a lender checks your credit report as part of the application process.
What is a Hard Inquiry/Pull
What is the credit score range?
300 - 850
A fee charged by credit card companies for using the card to withdraw cash from an ATM or bank.
How does getting a loan affect your credit score?
Making on time payments improves credit in the long-run, but it will initially lower it.
What are the three credit reporting agencies? (CRAs)
Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion
What are 3 of 5 ways a credit score is calculated?
Payment History
Payments Owed
Length of Credit History
New Credit
Credit Mix
A practice by some credit card companies where they increase a cardholder's credit limit without the cardholder's request.
What is a credit limit increase OR credit line increase?
What is the difference between a subsidized and an unsubsidized loan?
Subsidized loan: Based on financial need, interest is first paid by government
Unsubsidized loan: Not based on financial need, the borrowers are always responsible for paying interest
The name of the time period when you can pay your credit card bill before interest gets charged.