Popular Credit, Finance & Travel hacking Acronyms

This page is dedicated to the growing number of credit acronyms used on this site and others. If you come across an acronyms not on this list that you feel should be included, please contact us so we can get it added. Make sure you use “Acronyms” as the subject line.

If you’d like to find out more about a particular acronym, click the hyperlink if available to view the full knowledge base.

 Numbers

• 5/24 Rule: Refers to the Chase 5/24 rule. Some people will also show their status in regards to this rule (e.g they might say 8/24 to indicate this rule applies to them or the more popular lol/24 to indicate they are well over having five accounts within two years).
• 2/30 Rule: Another Chase rule referring to the fact you can have two approved credit cards per 30 day rolling window
• 8/65 Rule: Not used as often, but refers to Citi’s applications limits.

A

• A+: Barclaycard Arrival Plus
• AA: American Airlines or Adverse Action
• AAoA: Average Age of Accounts
• ACH: Automated Clearing House, users will often talk about what ACH transactions worked to trigger bank account bonuses. Datapoints for that can be found here.
• AF: Annual Fee
• AFAIK: As Far As I Know
• AG: Attorney General
• AGC: American Express Giftcard
• AmEx: American Express
• AOR: App-O–Rama
• AP: Amazon Payments
• APR: Annual Percentage Rate
• APY: Annual Percentage Yield
• ARS: Advance Resolution Services
• AS: Alaska Airlines
• AU: Authorized User
• AW: AwardWallet

B

• B6: Jetblue Airways
• BA: British Airways
• BBB: Better Business Bureau
• BB/BBY: Best Buy or Bluebird (BB only)
• BB+/BBP: Blue Business Plus
• BBR: Better Balance Rewards
• BCE: Blue Cash Everyday
• BCP: Blue Cash Peferred
• BF: BeFrugal
• BGR: Business Gold Rewards
• BOA/BofA: Bank of America
• BRM: Business Relationship Manager. Manager at Chase that deals with high value business accounts, has been useful for bypassing the 5/24 rule in the past.
• BRG: Business Rewards Gold or Best Rate Gaurantee

C

• CA: Cash Advance or California
• CB: Cashback
• CC: Credit Card or Club Carlson
• CF: Chase Freedom
• CFPB: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
• CFU: Chase Freedom Unlimited
• CIC: Chase Ink Cash
• CIP: Chase Ink Preferred
• CK: Credit Karma
• CL: Credit Limit or Credit Line
• CLI: Credit Limit Increase
• CMS: Credit Monitoring Services
• CP: Companion Pass, often referring to Southwest Companion Pass
• CPM: Cost Per Mile
• CPC: Chase Private Client
• CR: Credit Report
• CS: Chase Sapphire
• CSP: Chase Sapphire Preferred 
• CSR: Customer Service Representative or Chase Sapphire Reserve
• CU: Credit Union

D

• DC: Debit Card or Double Cash (Citi Double Cash)
• DD: Direct Deposit
• DDF: Dan’s Deals Forums
• DDG: Danny Deal Guru or Drop Dead Gorgeous (not frequently used in this community)
• DEMF: DEM Flyers
• DL: Delta Airlines or Drivers License
• DNB: Dunn & Bradstreet
• DOB: Date Of Birth
• DoC: Doctor of Credit (this blog, yay!)
• DP: Data Point
• DYKWIA: Do You Know Who I Am? (Not to be used seriously, usually used when you’re making fun of somebody else playing the DYKWIA card)

E

• ECOA: Equal Credit Opportunity Act
• ED: AmEx Everyday
• EDP: AmEx Everyday Preferred
• EK: Emirates Airlines
• ENES: Experian National Equivalency Score
• EQ: Equifax
• EWS: Early Warning Systems
• EY: Etihad Airlines
• EX: Experian

F

• F: First Class
• FA: Fraud Alert or Flight Attendant
• FACTA: Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act
• FB: Facebook
• FBA: Fulfillment By Amazon
• FCRA: Fair Credit Reporting Act
• FDIC: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• FM: Frequent Miler
• FNBO: First National Bank of Omaha
• FR: Financial Review
• FT: FlyerTalk forums
• FTF: Foreign Transaction Fee
• FWF: Fat Wallet Finance or Fat Wallet Friend or Fat Wallet Forums
• FWIW: For What It’s Worth

G

• GC.com: Giftcards.com
• GCM: Giftcard Mall
• GCW: Giftcard Wiki, useful site for comparing giftcard buy and sell prices
• GCs: Gift Cards
• GD: Green Dot
• GE: Global Entry
• GS: GameStop

H

• HH: Hilton Honors or Heavy Hitters
• HP: Hard Pull, an inquiry on your credit that does affect your score
• HSA: Health Savings Account
• HUCA: Hang Up, Call Again. Often if you don’t get the response from a customer service representative you want/expect the advice is to HUCA.

I

• IHG: Intercontinental Hotel Group
• INK: Chase Ink Cards (usually referring to the Chase Ink Cash & Cash Ink Plus & Not Chase Ink Preferred as that card has a different earning structure)

J

• J: Business Class
• JAL: Japan Airlines

K

• KE: Korean Air

L

• LMGTFY: Let Me Google That For You

M

• MC: Mastercard
• MCGC: Mastercard Giftcard
• MDD: Modified Double Dip
• MMS: Million Mile Secrets
• MOs: Money Orders
• MP: MoneyPak
• MPD: Miles Per Day
• MR: Membership Rewards, American Express branded loyalty program.
• MS: Manufactured Spend
• MSR: Minimum Spend Requirement
• MtM: Miles to Memories

N

• NCUA: National Credit Union Adminstration
• NFCC: National Foundation for Credit Counseling
• NFCU: Navy Federal Credit Union
• NSCRPA: Nationwide Specialty Consumer Report Agency

O

• OD: Office Depot
• OMAAT: One Mile At A Time
• OM: OfficeMax
• OP: Original Post(er)
• OTA: Online Travel Agency

P

• PC: Product Change/Conversion
• PFD: Personal Finance Digest
• PO: Post Office
• POS: Point Of Sale
• PP: Priority Pass or Paypal
• PPBDMC: Paypal Business Debit Mastercard
• PPDG: Paypal Digital Giftcards
• PPMC: Paypal MyCash
• PRG: Premier Rewards Gold
• PYB: Pay Yourself Back

Q

R

• RAT: Rewards Abuse Team
• RC: Ritz-Carlton
• Rep: Representative

S

• SAH: Shop At Home
• SCF: Saverocity Forums
• SD: Slickdeals
• SM: Secured Message
• SP: Soft Pull, an inquiry on your credit that doesn’t affect your score
• SPG: Starwood Preferred Guest
• SSN: Social Security Number
• SUB: Sign Up Bonus
• SW: Southwest Airlines
• SYWR: Shop Your Way Rewards, Sears loyalty program.

T

• TBB: Travel Blogger Buzz
• TC: Travel Codex
• TCB: Topcashback
• TIA: Thank You In Advance
• TL: Trade Line
• TM: Tagging Miles
• TPG: The Points Guy
• TPM: The Plastic Merchant
• TR: Travel Rewards
• TU: TransUnion
• TYP: ThankYou Points, Citi branded loyalty program.

U

• UA: United Airlines
• USB: U.S. Bank
• ULCC = Ultra Low-Cost Carrier
• USPS: United States Postal Service
• UR: Ultimate Rewards, Chase branded loyalty program.

V

• VFTW: View From The Wing
• VGC: Visa Giftcard
• VRs: Vanilla Reloads

W

• WAG: Walgreens
• WF: Wells Fargo
• WMT: Walmart
• WoH: World of Hyatt
• WTF: What The F***

X

Y

• Y: Economy Class
• YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary

Z