Definition

The entity that gives you money now in exchange for you giving them more money later, ideally with interest and your sanity intact. Banks, credit unions, and that one friend who still brings up the $20 from 2015 all qualify.

Example Usage

After being rejected by three lenders, we finally found one willing to give us a mortgage, though the interest rate suggests they think we're a significant flight risk.

Source: Financial terminology via dictionary

Related Terms

Intermediate

Write-Off

A tax deduction that allows businesses to subtract expenses from their taxable income, famously misunderstood by everyone thanks to that one Seinfeld episode. Half the population thinks a write-off means something is free, which keeps accountants employed correcting people at parties.

💰 Finance / Accounting
Intermediate

value trap

A stock that appears cheap based on traditional metrics but deserves the low valuation because the business is deteriorating. Looks like a bargain, performs like a money incinerator.

💰 Finance / Accounting
Advanced

hedge accounting

An accounting treatment that matches the timing of gains and losses on hedging instruments with the hedged items, preventing volatility from making your financials look bipolar. IFRS 9 and ASC 815's way of acknowledging that risk management shouldn't tank your earnings.

💰 Finance / Accounting
Advanced

synthetic position

A combination of financial instruments engineered to replicate the risk/return profile of another investment without actually owning it. It's like creating a financial doppelgänger using derivatives, which surely can't go wrong.

💰 Finance / Accounting
Intermediate

solvency

The ability to meet long-term obligations and survive beyond next quarter—unlike liquidity, which only cares about immediate bills. A company can be liquid but insolvent (cash now, doomed later) or illiquid but solvent (asset-rich, cash-poor).

💰 Finance / Accounting
Intermediate

materiality

The threshold at which an error or omission would influence the decisions of financial statement users, essentially the line between 'oops' and 'fraud.' It's subjective, context-dependent, and endlessly debatable.

💰 Finance / Accounting

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See “lender” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

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Beginner

backtrack

When you go in a direction, then you go the opposite direction to your last position....