Glossary of Debt Collection-Related Terms

[David A. Szwak]

Glossary
Below is a list of words and their definitions as they relate to credit, debt and the collections process.

Attorney General - The top attorney and law officer of a state or national government. You can find more information and a list of state Attorney General Offices at http://www.naag.org.

Bank Garnishment - An order from the court enabling a creditor to seize money from a non-paying debtor's bank account. This is also called a bank levy.

Better Business Bureau - A non-profit organization, funded by industry, setup to provide the public with information on businesses and to resolve disputes between businesses and their customers. The BBB is not a government agency. For more information, please go to http://www.bbb.org.

Binding Mandatory Arbitration - Clauses in contracts, such as Cardholder Agreements, that effectively cause the consumer (cardholder) to waive their rights to seek resolution to a dispute through the public courts. Instead, the dispute must go through a private, for-profit arbitration company whose final decision is considered contractually binding. An arbitration company is not a court and the arbitrators are not judges.

Cardholder - One who is issued a credit card.

Cardholder Agreement - The contract between the credit card issuer and the cardholder.

Creditor - One to whom a debtor owes money.

Debt Collector - One who attempts on behalf of an original creditor to collect money owed to that original creditor. Debt collectors are sometimes referred to as third-party debt collectors.

Debt Collection Agency - A company setup to collect debts on behalf of creditors. Debt collection agencies employ debt collectors.

Debt Collection Attorney - An attorney whose area of practice includes collecting debts on behalf of creditors.

Debt Collection Law Firm - A law firm whose area of practice includes collecting debts on behalf of creditors. A debt collection law firm employs debt collection attorneys.

Debt Portfolio - A large group of delinquent credit accounts which the original creditor has written off.

Debt Purchaser - One who purchases portfolios of delinquent credit accounts and then attempts to collect on these accounts.

Debtor - One who owes money to a creditor.

Default - In relation to a credit card account, any cardholder violation of the Cardholder Agreement, such as paying late or exceeding the credit limit.

Delinquent Account - A credit account on which the account holder has not paid as agreed.

FACTA - The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act is an amendment to the FCRA that entitles consumers to one free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus.

FCRA - The Fair Credit Reporting Act passed by Congress that regulates the credit bureaus' processes through which consumers can access and dispute information on their credit reports.

FDCPA - The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act passed by Congress to help protect consumers against unfair and abusive debt collection practices.

Federal Trade Commission - The government agency responsible for protecting consumers from unfair or abusive business practices. For more information, please go to http://www.ftc.gov/credit.

Credit Bureau - A company that receives, stores and sells information from creditors regarding credit activities of the creditors' customers. Credit bureaus are also called credit reporting agencies. The three main credit bureause are: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Issuer - One who issues credit. In relation to credit cards, the issuer is the credit card company, also known as the credit card issuer.

Lender - One who lends money.

Original Creditor - The issuer or owner of a credit account.

Universal Default - A clause in nearly half of all Cardholder Agreements that gives the credit card issuer the ability to change the credit terms (such as raising the interest rate) if the cardholder defaults on any credit agreement or if the cardholder's credit risk factors change (as determined by the cardholder's credit file or credit score).

Wage Garnishment - An order from the court enabling a creditor to seize money from a non-paying debtor's paycheck.