Credit

thumb|right|200px|A [[credit card is a common form of credit. With a credit card, the credit card company, often a bank, grants a line of credit to the card holder. The card holder can make purchases from merchants, and borrow the money for these purchases from the credit card company.]]

thumb|right|px|Domestic credit to private sector in 2005

Credit (from Latin , "loan") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a later date. The resources provided by the first party can be either property, fulfillment of promises, or performances. In other words, credit is a method of making reciprocity formal, legally enforceable, and extensible to a large group of unrelated people.

The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment. Credit is extended by a creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower.

Etymology

The term "credit" was first used in English in the 1520s. The term came "from Middle French (15c.) "belief, trust," from Italian credito, from Latin "a loan, thing entrusted to another," from past participle of "to trust, entrust, believe". The commercial meaning of "credit" "was the original one in English (creditor is [from] mid-15c.)" The derivative expression "credit union" was first used in 1881 in American English; the expression "credit rating" was first used in 1958.

History

In the 19th century, general stores in agrarian communities would keep ledgers of store credit. Farmers would buy on credit during the year and pay back their debts at harvest time after selling their crops.

Credit cards became most prominent during the 1900s. Larger companies began creating chains with other companies and used a credit card as a way to make payments to any of these companies. The companies charged the cardholder a certain annual fee and chose their billing methods while each participating company was charged a percentage of total billings. This led to the creating of credit cards on behalf of banks around the world. Some other first bank-issued credit cards include Bank of America's Bank Americard in 1958 and American Express' American Express Card also in 1958. These worked similarly to the company-issued credit cards; however, they expanded purchasing power to almost any service and they allowed a consumer to accumulate revolving credit. Revolving credit was a means to pay off a balance at a later date while incurring a finance charge for the balance.

Discrimination

Until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1974, women in America were given credit cards under stricter terms, or not at all. It could be hard for a woman to buy a house without a male co-signer. In the past, even when not explicitly barred from them, people of color were often unable to get credit to buy a house in white neighborhoods.

Bank-issued credit

Bank-issued credit makes up the largest proportion of credit in existence. The traditional view of banks as intermediaries between savers and borrowers is incorrect. Modern banking is about credit creation. Credit is made up of two parts, the credit (money) and its corresponding debt, which requires repayment with interest. The majority (97% as of December 2013

The cost of credit is the additional amount, over and above the amount borrowed, that the borrower has to pay. It includes interest, arrangement fees and any other charges. Some costs are mandatory, required by the lender as an integral part of the credit agreement. Other costs, such as those for credit insurance, may be optional; the borrower chooses whether or not they are included as part of the agreement.

Interest and other charges are presented in a variety of different ways, but under many legislative regimes lenders are required to quote all mandatory charges in the form of an annual percentage rate (APR). The goal of the APR calculation is to promote "truth in lending", to give potential borrowers a clear measure of the true cost of borrowing and to allow a comparison to be made between competing products. The APR is derived from the pattern of advances and repayments made during the agreement. Optional charges are usually not included in the APR calculation.

Interest rates on loans to consumers, whether mortgages or credit cards are most commonly determined with reference to a credit score. Calculated by private credit rating agencies or centralized credit bureaus based on factors such as prior defaults, payment history, and available credit, individuals with higher credit scores have access to lower APRs than those with lower scores.

Statistics

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+ Share of consumer credit as a ratio of total household debt in 2015

! Country

! Share

| 1%

| 4%

| 5%

| 7%

| 8%

| 9%

| 10%

| 12%

| 13%

| 14%

| 16%

| 19%

| 23%

| 27%

| 29%

| 44%

Notes

References

Logemann, Jan, ed. (2012). The Development of Consumer Credit in Global Perspective: Business, Regulation, and Culture. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. .