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The interest rate charged on a loan, credit card, or mortgage over a year's time

The fee charged annually by a credit card company to its cardholders. This amount is added to the cardholder's statement every year and must be paid by the cardholder by the statement's due date.

An individual's credit rating is typically considered bad or poor if their FICO score falls below 620. Issues that drop a FICO score to such a level include defaulting on (failing to pay back) loans and credit cards, making payments past their due date, and/or carrying a high level of debt.

The transfer of an existing account balance (in part or in whole) to a different account, usually an account held with another creditor.

The fee charged by a credit card company when a balance is transferred to one of its cards.

A legal declaration of one's inability to pay his/her creditors. In most cases, voluntary bankruptcy is initiated by the individual in debt (the debtor); in rare cases, creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against a debtor to initiate an involuntary bankruptcy.