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| Payment cap | A contractual limit on the size of the monthly payment of an adjustable-rate mortgage or other variable rate loan. |
| Penalty rate | Several percentage points higher than a card's current annual percentage rate, which goes into effect after at least one late payment. |
| Periodic rate | The interest rate described in relation to a specific amount of time. The monthly periodic rate, for example, is the cost of credit per month; the daily periodic rate is the cost of credit per day. |
| Personal Identification Number | A confidential personal identification code, usually consisting of four to six digits, used by bank customers to access their account balances when using a self-service automated teller machine (ATM). Also known as a PIN. |
| PIN | Personal Identification Number. A confidential personal identification code, usually consisting of four to six digits, used by bank customers to access their account balances when using a self-service automated teller machine (ATM). |
| Point-of-Sale | An electronic payment system for retail goods and services, through the use of credit cards or debit cards that directly access and deduct funds from a customer?s checking account. Also known as POS. |
| POS | Point of Sale. An electronic payment system for retail goods and services, through the use of credit cards or debit cards that directly access and deduct funds from a customer?s checking account. |
| Power of attorney | A document in which the signer authorizes someone to conduct business in his or her name -- signing title documents and checks, for example. |
| Pre-approved | A credit card offer with "pre-approved" only means that a potential customer has passed a preliminary credit-information screening. A credit card company can spurn the customers it invited with "pre-approved" junk mail if it doesn't like the applicant's credit rating. |
| Previous balance | A method used by some card issuers where they base their finance charges on the amount owed at the end of the previous billing cycle. |
| Prime rate | The interest rate a bank charges its best or "prime" customers. Each bank will quote a prime lending rate. Many institutions quote prime rates established by large money center commercial banks. There is also a prime rate average listed in the Wall Street Journal that is an average of the largest commercial banks. The rate given to consumers on their loans is often based as the prime rate plus a certain percentage, which represents the lender's assessment of the risk in lending, plus its profit margin. |
| Principal | The amount of money borrowed. The amount of money owed, excluding interest. |
| Private label cards | A private label card is issued by a retail outlet, such as a department store or gasoline company, and contains the logo of the retailer. It is accepted only by the retailer who issued it. Retailers partner with a bank or a card-issuing management company to back the cards. |