Craftsman Style to Creditor
Craftsman Style
The Craftsman style is an early-1900 architectural style that arose out of the “Arts & Crafts” movement. The Craftsman style originated in Great Britain that was actually a reform movement that encouraged simplicity, local natural materials and display of craftsmanship. In U.S. architecture, the Craftsman style often incorporate Frank Lloyd Wright design motifs and mixed materials throughout the building.
Crawl Hole
The crawl hole is an entrance into a crawl space or any space beneath a building.
Crawl Space
With some basement-less houses or structures, the area underneath the first-floor subflooring is called the crawl space. The foundation in such crawl-space constructions are usually footings and piers.
CRE
The Counselor of Real Estate (CRE) designation used by members of the American Society of Real Estate Counselors (ASREC).
Creative Finance
Creative financing or finance is a generalized term used for several types of little known but legal methods for obtaining mortgage financing and acquiring property. This term has been applied to several mortgage programs (such as No Documentation and No Down Payment loans) and purchasing options (such as Lease-to-Own agreements and installment contracts).
Credit Bureau
Also called a credit reporting agency, the credit bureau collects, stores and reports credit information about consumers and companies.
Credit Enhancement
A credit enhancement refers to additional actions or supplementary collateral that are used to increase the credit rating of a mortgage-backed security (MBS). Credit enhancements are used to lower the lender’s or investor’s risk exposure. For example, additional letters of credit or a corporate guarantee may be necessary to raise the credit rating of a mortgage-backed security that has unattractive yields or characteristics. The most common forms of credit enhancements are letters of credit from the seller’s banker, the addition of more collateral security for the loans, subordination agreements and setting up a reserve funds account.
Credit Grade
See the Credit Rating entry.
Credit History
The record of a person’s or business’ management of debt obligations is often called the credit history. Credit bureaus retain consumer credit history for up to ten years. Specific elements of credit history that are recorded and maintained include collections, creditor names, credit card balances, credit limits, monthly installment payments, late payments, delinquencies, loan defaults, judgments and account numbers. From the lender’s perspective, a person’s credit history is an indicator of their willingness to repay an obligation and their overall riskiness.
Credit Lender
A credit lender is one which focuses primarily on the borrower’s credit rating. Most home mortgage lenders are credit lenders. Compare with Asset-Based Lender entry.
Credit Life
A form of life insurance that pays off the mortgage debts remaining after the death of the policy holder. This ensures that the deceased beneficiaries will not risk losing the home or property because of the loss of the policy holder’s income.
Credit Rating
The credit rating is a relative measurement of a person’s credit record. Credit traditionally has been rated with letter categories, similar to school grades. Beginning in the 1990s, the mortgage and credit industry have widely adopted a computerized credit scoring system that provides a numerical grade. The most popular credit scoring system used today is the FICO score, which was developed by the Fair Isaac Corporation. This automated scoring system allows lenders to decrease subjective analysis and potential discrimination. Credit scores can range between 300 to 935: A-plus credit is 720+; A-credit is 650 to 720; B-credit is 580 to 650; C-credit is 500 to 580; while D-credit is 300 to 500.
Credit Record
See the Credit History and Credit Report entries.
Credit Report
The credit report is a compilation of information about a person’s credit history as compiled by a credit bureau. The three most prominent credit repositories are Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. They gather credit information from different creditors and financial institutions. Local credit bureaus will tabulate credit information from credit repositories to develop a detailed credit report on individual consumers. The primary provider of credit reports for businesses is Dun & Bradstreet.
Credit Score
See the Credit Rating entry.
Credit Tenant
In the commercial real estate industry, a credit tenant is a lessee (renter) with acceptable credit rating. The minimum credit rating for such tenants would normally be BBB, according to Moody’s or Dun & Bradstreet.
Credit Tenant Lease
A credit tenant lease is a method of financing real estate used in commercial real estate investing. The landlord borrows money to finance the property and pledges as security the rents to be received from the tenant. Usually, the financing is structured as nonrecourse debt, and the lease is structured as a triple net lease.
Credit tenant leases may be created either in sale/leaseback transactions, or new purchase transactions.
Credit Union
A credit union is a legally chartered organization that offers financing to its members at lower or competitive interest rates and terms. In the U.S., credit unions are chartered by the federal or state government and receive special tax benefits unavailable to regular banks. However, credit union membership is limited to persons with a clearly defined relationship – such as employees of the same company or industry, union members or members in the same club, church or organization. Just as consumer accounts at regular banks are insured by the FDIC, accounts with credit unions are also insured (by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund).
Creditor
A creditor is a person or corporation that lends something of value to another person or corporation. Installment loan lenders and credit card companies are the most common creditors in the consumer’s life.
