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| Acquiring Financial Institution | Merchants are required to maintain an account with an acquiring financial institution to receive credit for credit card transactions. Credit card totals are deposited into the merchant's account minus any fees. |
| Additional Principal Payment | Extra money included with a loan payment to pay off the amount owed faster. This practice reduces the amount of interest paid. |
| Adjusted balance | A method in which credit card issuers subtract all payments made during the month, then add the finance charges. |
| Affinity card | A card offered by two organizations, one a lending institution, the other a non-financial group. Usually, use of the card entitles holders to special discounts or deals from the non-financial group. |
| Air miles | A reward issued by airline-affiliated co-branded cards. Air miles are earned with every use of the card, and then transferred monthly to the cardholder's account with that airline. |
| Annual fee | A bank charge for use of a credit card each year, which can range from $0 to $300, billed directly to the customer's monthly statement. |
| Annual percentage rate (APR) | A yearly rate of interest. Lenders are required by law to disclose the APR. The rate is calculated in a standard way, taking the average compound interest rate over the term of the loan, so borrowers can compare loans. |
| Application | A document in which a prospective borrower discloses his or her financial situation to qualify for a loan. |
| ATM | An acronym for Automated Teller Machine. It's a terminal activated by a debit or credit card that allows customers of a bank or other financial institution to conduct certain transactions such as deposits and withdrawals. An interconnection of these terminals allows customers to conduct certain transactions around the nation and the world, usually subject to a fee. |
| ATM access fee | Fee charged in addition to the individual account fees for an account holder to gain access to the ATM system. Can be monthly, weekly, or annual fee. |
| Authorized user | Any person to whom you give permission to use your credit card account. |
| Automatic payment | A contract that authorizes periodic withdrawals to be made from a checking or savings account to pay bills. |
| Automatic stay | An injunction that stops lawsuits, foreclosure, garnishments and all collection activity against the debtor the moment a bankruptcy petition is filed. |
| Automatic transfer | A contract that moves money at certain specified times, often monthly, from an interest-bearing or savings account into a non-interest, usually checking, account for the payment of checks. |
| Average daily balance | An average daily balance is determined by adding each day's balance and then dividing that total by the number of days in a billing cycle. |
| Balance transfer | The process of moving an unpaid credit card debt from one issuer to another. |
| Balance transfer fee | Fee charged customers for transferring an outstanding balance from one card to another. Can be a flat fee or percentage of the transfer. |
| Bank | An institution that acts as a financial intermediary by receiving money from depositors and lenders and also lending to borrowers. A bank must be chartered and meet certain criteria. Chartering is done by the Comptroller of the Currency for national banks, by the Federal Reserve System for state member banks, by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for insured banks, and by state regulatory agencies. |
| Bank holding company | A company that owns or controls one or more banks or companies associated with banking such as leasing companies, credit companies, etc. It is usually identified by the word Bancorp or Bancshares in the name. |
| Bankruptcy Code | The informal name for Title 11 of the United States Code (11 U.S.C. § 101 - 1330), the federal bankruptcy law. |