BankCraft reference
BankCraft Glossary
Banking has enough jargon already. This is the plain-English reference for the banking language and BankCraft terms used throughout Bank on My Terms.
Account aggregation
Collecting account, balance, or transaction information from one or more institutions into another service or dashboard.
Account verification
Confirming that an account exists, belongs to the expected person, or can receive a transaction.
ACH credit
An ACH entry that moves money toward the receiving account, commonly created when the institution holding the money is told to push it.
ACH debit
An ACH entry that removes money from an account after authorization, commonly created when the receiving institution is told to pull it.
ACH Red Zone
A BankCraft term for the period after an ACH instruction is submitted when the displayed balance, transfer status, and money safely available to commit may not agree. See the full ACH Red Zone lesson.
Active
A BankCraft role for an institution or account currently doing regular work in your financial setup.
Anchor
A BankCraft role for a dependable institution that provides stability, broad usefulness, or a central place from which other parts of your setup can operate.
APY
Annual Percentage Yield. It reflects the stated interest rate plus the effect of compounding over a year.
Available balance
The amount the institution currently permits you to spend, withdraw, or transfer. A displayed available balance may still include outgoing ACH transfers not yet deducted.
Balance cap
The maximum balance that qualifies for a stated rate, reward, or account benefit. Money above the cap may earn a lower rate or no special rate at all.
Bank triage
The BankCraft process of looking inward before making changes: What works? What is missing? Where does it hurt? What is costing money, wasting time, limiting access, or creating unnecessary problems? It is financial navel gazing with a purpose, diagnose the problem before choosing the treatment.
Benched
A BankCraft status for an institution or account that is not currently needed for an active job but is being kept available in case it becomes useful again.
Blended APY
The effective yield across the whole balance when different portions of the balance earn different rates. It may be lower than the headline rate shown for the highest-paying tier.
Bridge
A BankCraft honor or capability earned by an institution that provides a useful ACH pathway between parts of your financial setup that otherwise cannot connect effectively.
Bridge or relay institution
An institution kept partly or primarily because it provides a transfer pathway between accounts that cannot connect directly, have inadequate transfer limits, or need another route for moving money.
Buttload
A real historical measure and a BankCraft favorite. A butt was a large cask used for wine and other liquids; in later English imperial wine measure, one butt held 126 imperial gallons. BankCraft usage: anything above 4.00% APY is a buttload percent. We are doing our small part to bring this useful old English word back into circulation.
Cash back
A credit-card or debit-card reward that returns a percentage or fixed amount of qualifying spending to the cardholder.
Catnip
A BankCraft term for an offer designed to grab attention, such as an unusually high APY, bonus, or reward. Catnip is not automatically bad, but it should make you stop and inspect the requirements before moving money.
Committed funds
Money already assigned to an outgoing payment or transfer, even if the institution has not yet deducted it from the displayed balance.
Current or ledger balance
The account balance including posted activity, which may include money still subject to a hold.
Debit card
A payment card that normally draws money directly from a checking or other deposit account rather than creating a credit-card balance.
Deposit insurance
Protection for eligible deposits at covered banks and credit unions, subject to ownership categories and limits. See Deposit Insurance.
Direct deposit
An electronic deposit sent directly into an account, commonly used for payroll, Social Security, VA benefits, pensions, and other recurring payments.
Direct link
A connection that allows one financial institution to transfer directly to or from another without needing a third institution as a Bridge.
Digital wallet
A device-based service such as Samsung Wallet, Google Wallet, or Apple Wallet that can store payment credentials and use tokenized card information for supported transactions.
Elevator Drop Rate™
A BankCraft term for a savings or deposit rate that drops sharply once a balance crosses a particular threshold, causing the next dollars, or sometimes the whole balance, to earn much less. See the full lesson.
External account
An account held at another financial institution.
FDIC
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the U.S. agency that insures eligible deposits at covered banks and savings associations within applicable limits.
Financial Symphony
A BankCraft visual concept for multiple financial institutions and accounts performing different jobs as one coordinated setup, with you as the conductor.
Headline APY
The prominently advertised APY used to attract attention. It may apply only up to a balance cap, within a qualifying tier, or when specific requirements are met.
Heartbeat transaction
A small periodic deposit, withdrawal, or transfer used to keep an account active and confirm that the account and its connections still work.
Hold
A period when deposited funds appear in the account but are not fully available.
Institution audition
The BankCraft practice of letting a bank, credit union, account, or card prove it can do a particular job before giving it more money or responsibility.
Job or role
The specific purpose an institution, account, or card is expected to perform in your setup, such as high-yield savings, cash access, ACH transfers, branch service, credit-card rewards, or business banking.
Manual link
A bank-to-bank connection established by entering routing and account information and usually confirming ownership with microdeposits instead of signing in through an account aggregator.
Marginal tier
A rate structure in which only the dollars within a particular balance range earn that tier's rate. Crossing into the next tier does not change the rate already earned by dollars in lower tiers.
Merchant pull
An authorized company-initiated debit from your bank or credit union account.
Microdeposit
A small ACH entry used to verify an account or the user’s access to it.
NCUA
The National Credit Union Administration, the U.S. agency that administers federal share insurance for eligible deposits at covered credit unions.
Next-dollar rate
The APY that applies to the next dollar you add after reaching a tier, cap, or threshold. BankCraft looks at this because the advertised rate may not tell you what additional money will actually earn.
NSF
Nonsufficient funds. A transaction is attempted when the account does not have enough available money to cover it. An institution may decline the transaction, charge a fee, or both, depending on its rules.
OAuth
A permission flow in which you authenticate with your institution and authorize specific access without handing your credentials directly to the requesting app.
Pending transfer
A transfer instruction that has been accepted or scheduled but has not fully posted or completed. Institutions display pending activity differently, and some hide it outside the account ledger.
Plaid
A financial-data and account-linking service used by many banks, credit unions, fintechs, and apps to connect accounts or verify account information.
Posted
Recorded in the account ledger. Posted does not always mean an incoming deposit is available for immediate withdrawal or transfer.
Premium tier
A higher-paying rate tier that applies only to a specified balance range or when stated requirements are satisfied.
Processing
A status indicating that an institution has begun handling an instruction but the transfer has not completed.
Pull
A transfer initiated at the institution receiving the money: tell the receiving institution to retrieve it.
Push
A transfer initiated at the institution holding the money: tell the sending institution to send it.
Qualification Trapdoor™
A BankCraft term for an account whose attractive rate depends on meeting one or more requirements, such as direct deposit, debit-card use, transaction counts, or other monthly conditions. Miss the requirement and the rate can fall sharply.
Reserve
A proven institution kept connected and ready to return to active duty when another route, account, or capability is needed.
Rolling period
A limit measured backward from the current date or posting date rather than resetting on a fixed calendar date.
Routing number
The nine-digit identifier used to route U.S. bank and credit-union transactions.
Settlement
The completion of the financial obligation between participating institutions.
Share number or suffix
A credit-union identifier that distinguishes one savings, checking, or loan share under a member relationship.
Shiny object
A BankCraft term for a financial product or feature that looks exciting enough to distract you from your actual needs. A shiny object may still be useful, but it must earn a job instead of merely winning your attention.
Specialist
An institution kept because it performs a particular job unusually well, even if it is not the best choice for everyday banking or savings.
Statement balance
The amount shown as owed on a credit-card statement at the end of the billing cycle. Paying the statement balance by the due date generally avoids purchase interest when the card's grace-period rules apply.
Tap-to-pay
A contactless payment method that uses near-field communication, or NFC, to send payment information between a card or device and a compatible terminal.
Test cheaply
A core BankCraft practice: open, connect, move, or try something with a small safe amount first. Increase responsibility only after the institution proves that the process works as expected.
Tokenization
A payment-security method that replaces the card's actual account number with a substitute token for a device, wallet, or transaction, reducing exposure of the underlying card number.
Trace number
An identifier used to follow an ACH transaction through the network and participating institutions.
Transfer limit
A dollar or transaction-count restriction applied per transfer, day, week, month, or rolling period.
Try Before You Buy
A BankCraft principle of testing an institution or account before moving major balances, direct deposits, bills, or other important responsibilities. See the full lesson.
Uncommitted balance
A BankCraft working figure: the displayed available balance minus outgoing payments or transfers already authorized but not yet deducted. It is the money not already spoken for.
Vault
An institution whose primary assignment is to hold excess cash at a competitive yield until the money is needed elsewhere in your setup.
VPN
A virtual private network that encrypts traffic between your device and the VPN provider and changes the network address websites see. It does not guarantee that a bank will allow access.
Whole-Balance Trapdoor™
A BankCraft term for a rate structure in which crossing a balance threshold can cause the entire balance, not just the dollars above the threshold, to earn a lower APY.
Wire transfer
A separate bank-to-bank transfer method that is often faster and more final than ACH but may carry fees at one or both ends.