Credit Card Acronyms and Abbreviations



These are common Credit Card Acronyms and Abbreviations used on this sites and are often written as acronyms.

24/7: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

AA – American Airlines or Citibank AAdvantage Platinum Select Credit Card

AA EXE – Citibank AAdvantage Executive

ABA: American Bankers Association

ACH: Automated Clearing House

ACS: Authorization, Clearance, and Settlement

AF: Annual Fee

AGC – American Express Gift Card

Amex: American Express

AOR – App-O-Rama – Applying for multiple credit cards at the same time

APR: Annual Percentage Rate

ATM: automated teller machine (cash dispenser/machine)

AVS: Address Verification Service

AX – American Express

B2B: Business-to-Business

B2C: Business-to-Consumer

BCE – Blue Cash Everyday – American Express Credit Card

BoA – Bank of America

BCP – Blue Cash Preferred – American Express Credit Card

BIN: Bank Identification Number

C1 – Capital One

CAP – Chip and PIN

CARD Act: Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act (U.S.)

CB – Cash Back

CC – Credit Card

CLI – Credit Limit Increase

CSP – Chase Sapphire Preferred

CSR – Customer Service Representative

CVC: Card Verification Code

CVV: Customer Verification Value (code on back of card) – A three- or four-digit number that is printed on a card to verify its authenticity. The “2” refers to the printed code on the card. (CVV1 is encoded on the magnetic stripe of the card.)

DC – Diners Club

DE – Delta Airlines

DI – Discover

DL – Delta Airlines

DS – Discover

EFT: Electronic Funds Transfer

EMV: Europay, MasterCard and Visa, companies that originally started a joint venture to promote global standards for smart cards used in payment transactions.

EQ – Equifax

EU: European Union

EX – Experian

FACTA: Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (U.S.)

FASB: Financial Accounting Standards Board (U.S.)

FATCA: Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (U.S.)

FDIC: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (U.S.)

FHR – Fine Hotels and Resorts – American Express Platinum and Centurion cardholder benefit

FI: Financial Institution

FTC: Federal Trade Commission (U.S.)

FTF – Foreign Transaction Fee

FX: Foreign Transactions

GC – Gift Cards

HP – Hard Pull (A hard credit card inquiry) vs. Soft Pull

HSA: Health Savings Account

IRS: Internal Revenue Service (U.S.)

JC – Japan Credit Bureau

JCB – Japan Credit Bureau

L/A/P: Loyalty/Award/Promotion cards

MC – MasterCard

MO – Money Orders

MPX – MileagePlus X

MR – Membership Rewards – American Express Membership Reward Points

MS – Manufactured Spend or Manufactured Spending

NPSL – No Preset Spending Limit

PAN: Primary Account Number

PCI: Payment Card Industry

PIN: Personal identification Number

POS: Point of Sale

PRG – Priority Rewards Gold – American Express Gold Card

SKU: Stock-Keeping Unit – Most retailers and online retailers have a unique SKU for each item on inventory.

SP – Soft Pull – A soft credit card inquiry (vs. Hard Pull)

SPG – Starwood Preferred Guest

SSN – Social Security Number

SWIFT: Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication

T&Cs: Terms and Conditions

T&E: Travel & Entertainment

TO – Maestro

TU: TransUnion

TYP: Thank You Points – Citibank Reward Program

UPC: Universal Product Code

UR – Ultimate Rewards – Chase Bank Reward Program

VAT: Value-Added Tax

V-card: Virtual Card

VGC – Visa Gift Card

VI – Visa

VPN: Virtual private network

VR – Vanilla Reload

WEMC – World Elite MasterCard

WF – Wells Fargo

YMMV – Your Mileage May Vary

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