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MANAGING CREDIT TUTORIAL

Capacity:		Your ability to pay your debts.
Character:		Where credit is concerned, a person's reputation for paying bills when due. This is also referred to as your willingness and ability to pay or creditworthiness.
Collateral:		An asset pledged to the creditor until the credit obligation is paid. Example: If you own your home (or another car), it may be used as collateral to secure a car loan.
Co-signer:		A person (co-buyer/co-lessee) who assumes equal responsibility for a contract or lease agreement.
Creditor:		A person or organization that regularly extends credit subject to a finance charge and to whom the credit obligation is initially payable on the face of the contract.
Credit Report:		A report about you and your payment history gathered by a credit reporting agency in an organized manner.
Credit Reporting Agency:		A firm that collects, sorts and sells information about an individual's credit history.
Credit Score:		A numerical score that sums up - at a point in time - what your past and current credit usage predicts about your future credit performance based on statistics. The better your history of credit, the higher your score.
Lien:		A legal claim on ownership stemming from a credit obligation.
Permissible Purpose:		The legally acceptable purpose(s) a creditor or organization has to obtain a person's credit report. Example: When you apply for credit, you are giving your potential creditor the legal right to obtain your credit report.
Repossess:		In the event of non payment of your credit obligation, a creditor's legal right to take the asset you have pledged as collateral and sell it to pay off the credit obligation.



Jump to:
1.	Introduction	11.	Purchasing a Credit Report
2.	Why You Need a Credit History?	12.	How to Correct a Credit Rating
3.	Consequences of Bad Credit	13.	How Creditors Rate You
4.	Glossary of Credit Terms	14.	4 Key Credit Tips
5.	Credit - The First Step	15.	3 Things you Don't Want to Do
6.	How Creditors Get Information	16.	How to Spot Bad Credit
7.	What Your Credit Report Says	17.	How to Get on the Right Track
8.	What's In Your Credit Report?	18.	Your Credit - An Overview
9.	Credit Report Exercise	19.	If You're Denied Credit
10.	Free Annual Credit Report	20.	Consumer Protection Laws
		21.	Credit Review

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Key Terms That Apply To Credit