Glossary

Key terms for understanding credit bureaus, annual percentage rates, and payment methods across Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Romania, Chile, and Argentina.

• ASNEF

  Spain's best-known private delinquent-debtor file, operated by Equifax.

• TAE (Tasa Anual Equivalente)

  Spain's standardized annual percentage rate for consumer credit.

• CIRBE

  The Banco de España's central register of all bank credit exposure, distinct from ASNEF.

• Sobreendeudamiento (Over-Indebtedness)

  The Spanish-language term for over-indebtedness — owing more across multiple loans than one can realistically repay.

• RETA

  Spain's special Social Security regime for the self-employed ("autónomos").

• Buró de Crédito

  Mexico's primary private credit-reporting bureau.

• CAT (Costo Anual Total)

  Mexico's standardized annualized cost indicator for consumer credit.

• CONDUSEF

  Mexico's financial-consumer protection agency.

• DataCrédito

  Colombia's best-known private credit-reporting bureau, operated by Experian.

• Tasa EA (Efectiva Anual)

  Colombia's standardized effective annual interest rate, capped by a legal usury ceiling.

• Nequi

  A leading Colombian mobile wallet used to disburse fintech microloans.

• INFOCORP

  Peru's leading credit-reporting bureau, operated by Equifax Peru.

• TCEA (Tasa de Costo Efectivo Anual)

  Peru's standardized total annualized cost rate for consumer credit.

• Yape

  BCP's mobile wallet, widely used to disburse Peruvian fintech microloans.

• Biroul de Credit

  Romania's main credit-reporting bureau, jointly owned by Romanian banks.

• DAE (Dobânda Anuală Efectivă)

  Romania's standardized annual percentage rate under EU consumer-credit law.

• DICOM

  Chile's best-known credit-reporting registry, operated commercially by Equifax Chile.

• CAE (Costo Anual Equivalente)

  Chile's standardized annualized cost measure for consumer credit.

• Veraz

  Argentina's best-known credit-reporting registry, operated commercially by Equifax Argentina.

• CFT (Costo Financiero Total)

  Argentina's standardized total annualized cost rate, shaped by the country's inflation environment.

• Bizum

  Spain's instant person-to-bank payment app, increasingly used to speed up microcrédito payouts and repayments.

• Tarjeta Revolving (Revolving Credit Card)

  A reusable Spanish credit line repaid in small monthly instalments, legally distinct from a one-off microcrédito and subject to its own usury case law.

• SPEI (Sistema de Pagos Electrónicos Interbancarios)

  Mexico's central-bank interbank payment system, used by fintech lenders to disburse and collect microloans in seconds.

• SOFOM ENR (Sociedad Financiera de Objeto Múltiple, Entidad No Regulada)

  The non-bank corporate structure most Mexican fintech microlenders use, distinct from a licensed bank.

• CIFIN

  Colombia's second major private credit bureau, owned by TransUnion, operating alongside DataCrédito.

• Libranza

  A Colombian payroll- or pension-deduction loan, repaid automatically before the borrower receives their net pay.

• Plin

  A bank-backed Peruvian digital-payment platform shared by BBVA, Scotiabank, Interbank, and BanBif, interoperable with Yape.

• Central de Riesgos SBS

  Peru's free, SBS-run public credit registry, distinct from the private INFOCORP bureau.

• IFN (Instituție Financiară Nebancară)

  Romania's regulatory category for non-bank lenders — the corporate structure behind most Romanian fast-loan providers.

• ANPC

  Romania's national consumer-protection authority, handling complaints about misleading lending practices.

• RUT (Rol Único Tributario)

  Chile's national tax and identity number, required by nearly every licensed Chilean lender.

• SERNAC

  Chile's consumer-protection agency, with active complaint, mediation, and collective-lawsuit powers over lenders.

• CBU / CVU

  The 22-digit account identifiers used to route peso transfers in Argentina, for bank and wallet accounts respectively.

• Mercado Pago

  Argentina's most widely used digital wallet, and a common disbursement destination for fintech microloans.

• PNFC (Proveedor No Financiero de Crédito)

  Argentina's regulatory category for non-bank lenders, the local counterpart to Mexico's SOFOM or Romania's IFN.

• CNP (Cod Numeric Personal)

  Romania's 13-digit personal identification number, required on nearly every IFN fast-loan application.

• ANSPDCP

  Romania's national data-protection authority, the escalation point for disputed Biroul de Credit entries.

• OUG 50/2010

  The Romanian emergency ordinance that transposed EU consumer-credit law and created the 14-day withdrawal right.

• Clave Única

  Chile's government-issued digital-identity credential, used by some fintech lenders to speed up identity verification.

• CMF (Comisión para el Mercado Financiero)

  Chile's unified financial regulator, supervising banks, insurers, and fintech lenders under one roof.

• Ley Fintec (Ley 21.521)

  Chile's fintech law, in force since 2023, that created a formal CMF licensing framework for technology-based financial services.

• Situación Crediticia (BCRA 1-to-6 Scale)

  Argentina's graded debtor-classification system, ranging from 1 (normal) to 6 (irrecoverable), that underlies Veraz and bank lending decisions.

• Central de Deudores del Sistema Financiero

  The BCRA's official regulatory debtor database, distinct from — but a key input into — the commercial Veraz bureau.