When someone steals your personal information and uses it to commit fraud, typically for economic gain.

This is a fee that you might get charged whenever you have not used your card for any transactions over an extended period of time (e.g. 90 days). This fee is usually a monthly fee and is in addition to a standard monthly fee that a card might have.

In general, an inquiry is when a third-party (e.g. creditor, lender, employer, landlord, etc.) asks to see your credit report from one of the three major credit bureaus (i.e. Experian, Equifax, TransUnion). More specifically, there are two types of inquiries: hard inquiries and soft inquiries. A hard inquiry is when the third party requests your credit report with the intent of making a lending decision, as would be the case when a bank is evaluating a credit card or loan application. Hard inquires are listed on your credit reports, and multiple inquiries can be perceived as desperation for credit, which will signal risk to creditors and may result in temporary credit score damage. However, your FICO Score, the most commonly used credit score, considers multiple inquiries from mortgage, auto loan or student loan companies within a short period of time as being a single inquiry. FICO differentiates these types of inquiries from those for, say, credit cards because they understand that multiple applications are merely part of the process of shopping around for the best loan rates. Soft inquiries are inquiries related to pre-qualification (e.g. direct mail credit card offers) as well as those used by employers and landlords to assess the risk of future applicants.

A quick decision (usually within minutes) as to whether your credit application got approved. Instant approval does not mean that you are guaranteed an approval. It just means that you will receive a quick response in regards to the status of your application.

This is a term generally used to describe the fee that a merchant is charged when a customer pays with plastic in a store. More specifically, an interchange fee is the fee a merchant's bank must pay a customer's bank when certain forms of payment (usually credit cards and debit cards) are used to purchase goods. In such a transaction, the merchant's bank is known as the "acquiring" bank, and it must pay the customer's bank (or "issuer" bank) a processing fee for converting a charged payment into a cash deposit in the merchant's checking account. The network of the card used also takes a cut of the merchant payment. Varying interchange fees often make certain payment types (like cash) less expensive to process than others (like credit cards). For example: If a consumer buys a soda from a gas station with a credit card, the owner of the gas station must pay a fraction of the soda's cost to the consumer's bank for processing the payment.

Monies billed on the balance of a credit card or loan, usually expressed as a percentage of the amount of money owed. The specific rate of interest is referred to as an Annual Percentage Rate (APR).

The fee that you will get assessed on the purchases that you make while traveling outside the U.S. OR while purchasing items over the internet from merchants that are located outside the U.S.

A one time fee sometimes assessed by credit card companies when you sign up to access your credit card account over the Internet.

The number of months that you can enjoy the 'Introductory Rate' of your new credit card or loan, assuming you do not go into default. If an 'Introductory Period' is listed as a range (for example, 3 - 9 months), the final period will be determined by the credit card company after you submit your application. Their decision will be based on the strength of your credit history.

In order to appeal to new customers, a credit card or loan might have a low or zero-percent introductory rate. This rate is good throughout the introductory period of time, so long as you do not go into default. At the end of the introductory period, this rate generally rises to the regular rate. If you go into default during the introductory period, you might skip directly from the introductory rate to the default APR.

The first six digits of a Visa or MasterCard account number, used to identify the institution that issued the card to the card holder. Previously known as the Bank Identification Number.