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| Late payment | A sum a borrower sends to a lender that is received past the date when it was due. |
| Late payment fee | Charge imposed on a debtor for not paying on time. |
| Liabilities | A borrower's debts and legal obligations. |
| LIBOR Rate | LIBOR stands for London Interbank Offered Rate. It's the rate of interest at which banks offer to lend money to one another in the wholesale money markets in London. It is a standard financial index used in U.S. capital markets and can be found in the Wall Street Journal. In general, its changes have been smaller than changes in the prime rate. It's an index that is used to set the cost of various variable-rate loans, including credit cards and adjustable-rate mortgages. |
| Line of credit | A commitment by a financial institution to lend up to a specified maximum amount to a customer during a specified period of time. |
| Liquidity | The ability to convert assets to cash quickly, without significant losses. |
| Margin | Expressed as percentage points, the amount that a lender adds to an index to arrive at the final interest rate. For example, if the index is 9 percent and the margin 2.75 percent, the final interest rate is 11.75 percent. |
| Member bank | A commercial bank with membership in the Federal Reserve System, and which maintains reserve deposits in the Federal Reserve Bank in its district. |
| Merged credit report | A summary of one's credit history from the big three credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. |
| Minimum payment | The minimum amount a cardholder can pay to keep the account from going into default. Some card issuers will set a high minimum if they are uncertain of the cardholder's ability to pay. Most card issuers require a minimum payment of 2 percent of the outstanding balance. |
| Modification | A change in terms of the loan agreement. |
| Monthly periodic rate | The interest rate factor used to calculate the interest charges on a monthly basis. The factor equals the yearly rate divided by 12. See periodic rate. |
| National bank | A bank chartered by the federal government and a mandatory member of the Federal Reserve System. |
| National Credit Union Association | Created in 1970 to charter and supervise federal credit unions. |
| National Foundation for Consumer Credit | A nonprofit organization that educates consumers about using credit wisely. The NFCC is the parent group for Consumer Credit Counseling Service. |
| National issuers | The overwhelming majority of credit cards in the U.S. come from a handful of national issuers, such as First USA, MBNA America and Bank of America. They often originate from lender-friendly states such as Delaware and South Dakota that impose no limits on what cardholders can be charged. |
| NCUA | National Credit Union Association: Created in 1970 to charter and supervise federal credit unions. |
| NCUSIF | National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund: Insures credit union deposits. |
| Net worth | The total value of all assets, such as house, car, furniture and investments, minus all debts, such as mortgages and credit card bills. |
| NFCC | The National Foundation for Consumer Credit is a nonprofit organization that educates consumers about using credit wisely. The NFCC is the parent group for Consumer Credit Counseling Service. |
