Who's who in the credit world

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
This is die federal agency in charge of anything to do with credit (along with many other aspects of our economy). You can send them written complaints, particularly if you cant resolve a dispute with a credit bureau or card issuer. The national office is in Washington, DC., and there are regional offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago. Cleveland. Dallas, Denver. Los Angeles. New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.

Creditors
These are the people to whom you owe money. A secured creditor is someone who extends you credit in return for your pledge that they can sell designated property of yours if you fail to repay the loan properly. An unsecured creditor is still entitled to be repaid somehow, but doesn't have the right to take and sell any specific property.

Credit guarantee company
When the store clerk runs your card through its machine, the clerk is contacting a credit guarantee company. This company, a liaison between the card issuer and the store, sends back the status of your credit to let the clerk know whether to make the sale, reject it. or even keep your (arc! so you can't use it anymore.

Merchant banks and issuing banks
When you buy, something using a card from Visa or MasterCard, the seller receives its payment from a "merchant' bank (minus a service fee that's typically 1%, to 6%, of your purchase). !'he merchant bank then is reimbursed by the "issuing'' bank (minus a service fee that's typically 1% or 2%) - The issuing bank is the one who issued you the card and the one who sends you a monthly statement requesting payment.

Visa and MasterCard
These competing organizations don't issue credit cards. They provide operational and marketing support for the banks who issue their cards. The banks are allowed to set their own credit terms, including the interest rate, grace period, and annual fee, as long as they stay within the guidelines of their member organization. Beside generating income from consumers Visa and MasterCard also charge merchants a percentage of each purchase made with their card.