Finance Glossary

Industry Terms

ALM - Asset Liability Management
APR - Annual Percentage Rate
APY - Annual Percentage Yield
ATM - Automated Teller Machine
CU - Credit Union
CUES - Credit Union Executive Society
CUNA - Credit Union National Association
CUSO - Credit Union Service Organization
HELOC - Home Equity Line of Credit
KMG - Key Member Group
LTV - Loan to value - represented in a percentage.
NASCUS - National Association of State Credit Unions Supervisors
NCUA - National Credit Union Administration - an agency of the Federal Government that insures each members account up to $100,000.
NCUSIF - National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund
OCUL - Ohio Credit Union League
PCU - Personal Credit Union - Day Air's Internet Account Access
Share - A credit union term for a savings account. This is the account that must have a $5 minimum balance to own a share in Day Air and partake in our membership.
Share Certificate - A credit union term for what is commonly known as a Certificate of Deposit with other financial institutions.
Share Draft - A credit union term for a draft (check). A Share Draft account is a checking account.

Online Banking Terms

Bandwidth - The volume of data that can be transmitted on a particular media. It is measured in bits per second. Online financial institutions and online consumers both seek the greatest possible bandwidth to increase the speed at which the Web pages load.
Bit - The smallest piece of data that a computer system can use. Bits, which computers read as either 1 or 0, are the building blocks from which all programs are built.
Browser - A computer software program used for accessing and viewing Internet Web sites.
Byte - A series of eight bits that represent a specific character.
Cookie - Some Web sites may track a user's online activity with a "cookie." A cookie is simply a block of text that the Web site places in a file on the hard drive of the viewer's computer. Although a code in the cookie file enables the site to label a particular user, it does not identify the user's name or address unless such information is provided automatically by the user's browser.
Cyberspace - A term used to describe the range of information resources available through computer networks such as the Internet. The term was coined by science fiction author William Gibson.
Download - The method used to transfer or "pull down" a file of data from one computer to another, usually via a modem.
Electronic mail, or email - Messages that are sent from one person's computer to another's via the Internet. Files can be attached to the email message for downloading by the recipient of the message.
Encryption - A method for ensuring the privacy and security of a consumer's personal finance information at a financial institution Web site. Encryption is the process of scrambling data so that only the intended receiver can use it. Consumers should make sure it is being used when sending sensitive information.
Firewall - A means of protecting a computer system from unauthorized outside use.
HTML - Stands for hypertext markup language, the programming language used to created web sites; HTML creates hypertext documents.
HTTP - Stands for hypertext transfer protocol, the protocol used for moving hypertext files over the Internet.
HTTPS - By Web convention, pages whose URL begins with https instead of http, are encrypted pages offered on a site that employs secure sockets layer. Also see encryption.
Hypertext - A way of presenting information in which text, sounds, images and actions are joined by links together in a way that allows the user to go from one page to another in any order.
Hyperlink - See link.
Internet - A global network of interconnected computer networks that can be accessed by computer users worldwide.
Internet Service Provider (ISP) - A company that provides access to the Internet for a fee, most often via phone lines. Some provide access via cable lines.
Intranet - A private network, like the Internet, that is for use only by selected users, usually set up for internal use by employees of a single company.
Javascript - A scripting language that has many of the features of Java, but is chiefly designed to work with HTML pages. It is used to add interactivity and fancy design elements to pages. Financial calculators are written in Javascript.
Kilobyte - 1,024 bytes.
Link - Refers to any highlighted words or phrases in a hypertext document that allow the user to click through to another section of the same document or to another document on the World Wide Web. Also known as a hyperlink.
Log In - The procedure by which a person "enters" a secure online site, such as a financial institution. When logging in, customers enter their passwords to gain access to a secure area of the institution's Web site, where they can view their financial records and take action, such as online bill payment.
Modem - An acronym for modulator-demodulator, it's a device that allows remote computers to communicate, transmit and receive data using telephone lines.
Navigate - A term used to describe moving around a Web site and looking at the various pages.
Network - A connection of two or more computers that can share resources.
Online banking - Online systems allow members to plug into a host of banking services from a personal computer by connecting with the credit union's computers over telephone lines.
Privacy - The Internet works by sending information from one computer to another until the information reaches its final destination. When information is being sent from a home computer to any given Web site, other computers have the capacity to peek in and see what is being sent. And that's why encryption and other protective measures were developed.
Privacy policies - These are important to look for when visiting a Web site. They appear in various locations. Look for a privacy policy under "Privacy", "About Us" or company information sections of the site, or under a privacy icon. Some companies don't label their information practices specifically but make a statement such as "no information is being collected on this Web site." That counts as a privacy policy.
Protocol - An agreed-upon convention for transferring data between computers.
Security - Web browsers can be set to create a signal if a user is about to take an action that poses a security risk. For example, if a credit card number is about to be sent to an insecure site, Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer will send a warning that the site is not secure. If the site claims to be secure but its security credentials are suspect, both browsers can send warnings that the site might have been tampered with or might be misrepresenting itself.
SSL - Short for secure sockets layer. SSL is a protocol designed to increase security on the Internet by allowing encrypted files to be transferred from computer to computer. It works by using a private key to code data that's sent over a SSL connections. See also HTTPS and encryption.
TCP/IP - stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. It's the protocol that defines the way information is sent over the Internet.
URL - Stands for uniform resource locator. Term used for the address of a Web site, for example, www.dayair.org
World Wide Web or www - The global, interconnected collection of hypertext pages that also contain embedded images and links to other pages - like a web. The pages are accessed by servers over the Internet.

Mortgage Terms

15, 20, 30 Year Fixed Interest

A mortgage feature that structures the loan so that there will be no increases or decreases in the interest rate during the life of the loan.