Finance terms starting with C

239 terms

Collection Agency A company hired by a creditor to collect a debt that is owed. Creditors typically hire a collection agency only after they have made efforts to collect…
Collections the efforts a lender takes to collect past due payments.
CollegeSureÃÂ® CD CollegeSureÃÂ® CDs are certificates of deposit designed to let you prepay future college costs at today's rates, plus a premium based on the child's…
Collision This benefit pays to repair damage to your car as a result of an accident. Most banks or lenders require you to buy this coverage to receive a car loan.
Collision Coverage Pays for damage to your vehicle when it collides with another vehicle or object or if it overturns.
Combined Loan-to-Value (CLTV) The relationship of the outstanding balances of a first and second mortgage to the value of the home used to determine the maximum percentage of value…
Commercial bank Commercial banks offer a full range of retail banking products and services, such as checking and savings accounts, loans, credit cards, and lines of…
Commercial Paper Short-term, unsecured, discounted notes issued by institutional borrowers and sold to investors for short term cash investment needs.
Commission A portion of the policy premium that is paid to an insurance producer (agent) by the insurance company as compensation for the producer’s work.
Commitment An offer to grant a mortgage loan which outlines the terms, the amount of the loan, the interest rate and any conditions that the commitment or approval…
Committee on Uniform Securities Identifying Procedures (CUSIP) The Committee on Uniform Securities Identifying Procedures (CUSIP) assigns codes and numbers to all securities traded in the United States.
Commodity Commodities are bulk goods and raw materials, such as grains, metals, livestock, oil, cotton, coffee, sugar, and cocoa, that are used to produce consumer…
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) The CFTC is the federal agency that regulates the US futures markets, as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulates the securities markets.
Common Access Card (CAC) An Agency smartcard issued as standard identification for agency personnel, selected reserve personnel, civilian employees, and eligible contractor…
common shares Securities which represent part ownership in a company and generally carry voting privileges.
Common Stock When you own common stock, your shares represent ownership in the corporation and give you the right to vote for the company's board of directors and…
Community A political entity that has the authority to adopt and enforce floodplain ordinances for the area under its jurisdiction.
Community property In nine US states, any assets, investments, and income that are acquired during a marriage are considered community property, or owned jointly by the…
Community Rating System (CRS) A program developed by the FEMA Mitigation Division to provide incentives for those communities in the National Flood Insurance Program that have gone…
Company profile A summary of information about an insurance company, including its license status, financial data, complaint history, and a history of regulatory action.
Comparative fault A method of attributing fault to each party who contributed to causing an accident.
Comparative Negligence Law An Illinois law that sets forth how negligence for an accident is determined. Under these rules, you can collect from an at-fault driver only if you are…
Competitive trader Competitive traders, also known as registered competitive traders or floor traders, buy and sell stocks for their own accounts on the floor of an exchange.
Complaint A written communication primarily expressing a grievance against an insurance company or agent.
Complaint history Information collected or maintained by the Texas Department of Insurance relating to the number of complaints received against a particular insurer, agent…
Complete The review status of a financial disclosure report whose required reviews are finished and has all the required eSignatures.
Composite trading Composite trading figures report end-of-day price changes, closing prices, and the daily trading volume for stocks, warrants, and options listed on a…
Compound Interest Compound interest is the interest paid on a deposit or share account, which is added to the account balance at the end of the dividend period.
Compounding The process by which income is earned on income that has previously been earned.
Comprehensive Coverage Coverage that pays for damage to or the loss of your vehicle from causes other than collision (example: hail, vandalism, flood, fire and theft, etc.
Comprehensive physical damage coverage Optional insurance that pays for damage to your auto caused by things other than collision or rolling the car over such as fire, theft, vandalism, flood…
Comptroller of the Currency The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, housed in the US Department of the Treasury, charters, regulates, and oversees national banks.
compulsory payroll tax An automatic tax collected from employers and employees to finance specific programs.
Conditions Part of an insurance policy that states your obligations and those of your insurance company.
Condominium That form of ownership of real property in which each unit owner has an undivided interest in common elements.
Conduit IRA A conduit IRA is another name for a rollover IRA, which you establish with money you roll over from a 401(k), 403(b), or other retirement savings plan.
confirmation This written notice provided by a brokerage acknowledges completion of a securities transaction.
Conforming Loan A loan which meets all requirements to be eligible for purchase or securitization by FNMA or FHLMC (Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac) which has a loan amount…
Conglomerate A conglomerate is a corporation whose multiple business units operate in different, often unrelated, areas.
Conscience fund Conscience funds, also known as socially responsible funds, allow you to invest in companies whose business practices are in keeping with your personal…
Consensus recommendation A consensus recommendation for an individual stock compiles ratings from a number of analysts who track that stock.
Conservatorship Conservatorship is a legal procedure for the management of financial institutions for an interim period during which the institution’s conservator…
Construction Loan A short-term, interim loan that provides disbursements to facilitate the construction of a home. Funds are disbursed at intervals as work progresses.
Consumer Any natural person obligated or allegedly obligated to pay a debt incurred for personal, family or household use.
Consumer confidence index The consumer confidence index is released each month by the Conference Board, an independent business research organization.
Consumer Credit Counseling Service A service which specializes in working with consumers who are overextended with debts and need to make arrangements with creditors.
consumer price index A statistic that is a measure of the change in the cost of living for consumers.
Consumer price index (CPI) The consumer price index (CPI) is compiled monthly by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and is a gauge of inflation that measures changes in the prices of…
Consumer Reporting Agency An agency that regularly collects or evaluates individual consumer credit information or other information about consumers and sells consumer reports for…
Consummation The point in time when the contractual relationship between borrower and lender begins.
Contango The price of a futures contract tends to reflect the cost of storage, insurance, financing, and other expenses incurred by the producer as the commodity…
Contingency order A contingency order to buy or sell a security or other investment product is one that has strings attached.
Contingent Beneficiary A contingent beneficiary receives the proceeds of an insurance policy, term-certain annuity, individual retirement account (IRA), employer-sponsored…
Contingent deferred sales load A contingent deferred sales load, also called a back-end load, is a sales charge some mutual funds impose when you sell shares in the fund within a…
Continuous net settlement In continuous net settlement, most securities transactions are finalized, or cleared and settled, within a brokerage firm.
Contract In most cases, the term "contract" refers to an insurance policy. A policy is considered to be a contract between the insurance company and the…
Contrarian An investor who marches to a different drummer is sometimes described as a contrarian.
Conventional Conforming Mortgage Loans Conventional mortgage loans are those mortgages that are not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, the U.S.
Conventional Fixed Rate Mortgage A fixed-rate mortgage offers you a set interest rate and payments that do not change throughout the life, or "term," of the loan.
Conventional Mortgage A mortgage loan which is not insured or guaranteed by a government agency such as FHA or VA.
Conversion price A conversion price is the predetermined price, set at the time of issue, at which you can exchange a convertible bond or other convertible security for…
Convertible ARM is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage loan that can be converted into a fixed-rate mortgage during a certain time period.
Convertible bond Convertible bonds are corporate bonds that give you the alternative of converting their value into common stock of that company or redeeming them for cash…
Convertible hedge When you use a convertible hedge, you buy a convertible bond, which you can exchange under certain circumstances for shares of the company's common stock.
Convertible term A convertible term life insurance policy can be converted into a permanent life policy at some point in the future without requiring you to pass a health…
Convertible Term Insurance Term insurance that offers the policyholder the option of exchanging it for a permanent plan of insurance without evidence of insurability.
Cook the books When a company cooks the books, it is deliberately - and illegally - providing false information about its financial situation to bolster its stock price…
Cooling-off period In the financial industry, a cooling-off period applies when a new issue is being brought to market.
Cooperative (Co-op) A co-op is a corporation that owns a particular residential property. The shareholders are the tenants who, instead of owning an individual unit, own…
Copayment If you have a managed-care health insurance plan, your copayment is the fixed amount you pay - often $10 to $25 - for each in-network doctor's office…
Core earnings Standard & Poor's (S&P) developed the core earnings measure to give investors a more uniform way to compare earnings numbers.
Cornering the market If someone tries to buy up as much of a particular investment as possible in order to control its price, that investor is trying to corner the market.
Corporate Bond A debt obligation issued by a corporation.
Correction A correction is a drop - usually a sudden and substantial one of 10% or more - in the price of an individual stock, bond, commodity, index, or the market…
Correlated Systems SCRS and PORS are correlated systems. If a member has contributions in more than one of these retirement systems, the member’s service credit is…
Correlation In investment terms, correlation is the extent to which the values of different types of investments move in tandem with one another in response to…
Correspondent A correspondent is a financial institution, such as a bank or brokerage firm, that handles transactions on behalf of another financial institution that it…
Cosigner Another person, not necessarily a relative, who also signs your loan contract and assumes equal responsibility for its repayment.
Cost basis The cost basis is the original price of an asset - usually the purchase price plus commissions.
Cost Index A way to compare the costs of similar plans of life insurance. A policy with a smaller index number is generally a better buy than a comparable policy…
Cost-of-Living Adjustment An adjustment of a salary or a retirement annuity intended to help offset the effects of inflation. Commonly referred to as COLA. COLAs are not guaranteed.
Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) A COLA results in a wage or benefit increase that is designed to help you keep pace with increased living costs that result from inflation.
Cost-Of-Living Rider An option that permits the policyholder to purchase increasing term insurance coverage.
Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) The Council of Economic Advisors' job is to assist and advise the president of the United States on economic policy.
Countercyclical stock Stocks described as countercyclical tend to continue to maintain their value and provide regular income when the economy is slowing down or staying flat…
Counterparty In any financial contract, the persons or institutions entering the contract on the opposite sides of the transaction are called the counterparties.
Counterparty risk Counterparty risk is the risk that the person or institution with whom you have entered a financial contract - who is a counterparty to the contract -…
County Code A three-digit FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) code that identifies the county where the property is located.
Coupon A certificate that accompanies a bond that indicates the amount of interest it pays and the date it is due.
Coupon Rate The scheduled interest earned on a security, expressed as a percentage of the outstanding balance.
Coverdell Education Savings Account Formerly called education IRA. An education account that accumulates interest tax-free. You can also withdraw money from this account without penalty.)
Covered Expenses The losses or conditions that the policy will pay for.
Covered option When you sell call options on stock that you own, they are covered options. That means if the option holder exercises the option, you can deliver your…
Crash A crash is a sudden, steep drop in stock prices. The downward spiral is intensified as more and more investors, seeing the bottom falling out of the…
Credit Credit generally refers to the ability of a person or organization to borrow money, as well as the arrangements that are made for repaying the loan and…
Credit Application A form to be completed by an applicant for a credit account, giving sufficient details (residence, employment, income, and existing debt) to allow the…
Credit Bureau An agency that collects individual credit information and sells it for a fee to creditors so they can make a decision on granting loans.
Credit Bureaus or “consumer reporting agencies,” are companies that compile credit reports, and supply credit information to businesses upon request.
Credit Card A plastic card with a magnetic stripe that is used from time to time or over and over again to borrow money or buy goods or services on credit, and which…
Credit Card Account Agreement A written agreement that explains the terms and conditions of the account, credit usage and payment by the cardholder, and duties and responsibilities of…