Glossary
Credit Analyst Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential credit analyst terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key credit analyst vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in credit analyst training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Collateral
- Assets securing a loan.
- Covenant
- Loan condition.
- Credit committee
- Group approving loans.
- Credit memo
- Written lending recommendation.
- DSCR
- Debt service coverage ratio.
- EBITDA
- Earnings measure.
- Five Cs of credit
- Character, capacity, capital, collateral, conditions.
- Global cash flow
- Combined cash flow of borrower and guarantors.
- Guarantor
- Person backing a loan.
- Leverage
- Debt compared to equity.
- Liquidity
- Ability to pay short-term bills.
- LTV
- Loan-to-value ratio.
- Risk rating
- Loan risk grade.
- Spreading
- Entering financials into a model.
- Watch list
- Loans with concerns.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Credit Analyst practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Credit Analyst training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.