ESL Blog - How not to use the word credit - Questions and answers about English grammar, usage, vocabulary, etc.

MARCH 3, 2008 | How not to use the word "credit"

The word "credit" exists in many languages. This doesn't mean that it's used the same way as it is in English. In several European languages, "credit" is synonymous with the English word "loan", so speakers of these languages often mistakenly say: "I have to get a credit from my bank." In English, we would use the word "loan" to describe the money that the bank lends you, not "credit". You can specify what kind of loan by saying "home loan" or "mortgage", "car loan", etc.

So how is the word "credit" used in English? It's got a lot of different uses, but when talking about borrowing money, etc, "credit" (never countable in this context!) refers to how much the bank trusts you, financially speaking, to repay a loan, etc. If you have bad "credit", you will not be able to get a loan, whereas if you have good "credit" you probably will be able to get a loan. The bank will have to check your "credit" in order to determine whether or not you qualify.

If you're talking about having a lot of outstanding ( = unpaid) loans, you can refer to these as "outstanding loans" or "debts", not "credits" :)

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