What is CREDIT?

          Credit is the trust which allows one party to provide resources to another party where that second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a         debt), but instead arranges either to repay or return those resources (or other materials of equal value) at a        later date. The resources provided may be financial (e.g. granting a loan), or they may consist of goods or            services (e.g. consumer credit). Credit encompasses any form of deferred payment. Credit is extended by a          creditor, also known as a lender, to a debtor, also known as a borrower.       Credit does not necessarily require money. The credit concept can be applied in barter economies as well, based on the direct exchange of goods and services (Ingham 2004 p.12-19). However, in modern societies credit is usually denominated by a unit of account. Unlike money, credit itself cannot act as a unit of account.

        Movements of financial capital are normally dependent on either credit or equity transfers. Credit is in turn dependent on the reputation or creditworthiness of the entity which takes responsibility for the funds. Credit is also traded in financial markets. The purest form is the credit default swap market, which is essentially a traded market in credit insurance. A credit default swap represents the price at which two parties exchange this risk – the protection "seller" takes the risk of default of the credit in return for a payment, commonly denoted in basis points (one basis point is 1/100 of a percent) of the notional amount to be referenced, while the protection "buyer" pays this premium and in the case of default of the underlying (a loan, bond or other receivable), delivers this receivable to the protection seller and receives from the seller the par amount (that is, is made whole).

        Credit, in commerce and finance, term used to denote transactions involving the transfer of money or other property on promise of repayment, usually at a fixed future date. The transferor thereby becomes a creditor, and the transfer, a debtor; hence credit and debt are simply terms describing the same operation viewed from opposite standpoints. 
            
     

Work Experience egree

       In the world that is set on the fast track, work experience degree is gaining significance. Distance learning and online education has made it possible for people to get their experience translated into proper and authentic work experience degree. These work experience degree have been designed to facilitate working individuals. Traditional education system requires students to give full time to their studies. Online or distant education helps such people in completing their education in the fraction of time require in traditional education set up. Work experience degree, as compared to traditional degree, is less expensive and extremely quick. Before providing students with work experience degree, university or educational institute assesses them for their prior learning experience. For each level assessment requirements differ.
       Students can get their life experience translated in work experience degree in all disciplines. Whether it is life experience, military experience, work history or previous college credits, you can work experience degree against anything.
     Work experience degree is basically pursued by the professionals who can’t opt for fulltime traditional studies. This flexible part time program allows professionals to manage between their work and education without missing on anyone. Most positive aspect of work experience degree is that students can utilize experience that they have acquired through years. Even the book that you have read sometime or workshop you have attended can help you qualify for an accredited work experience degree. Work experience degree does not only benefit working adults and veterans. Job seekers, fulltime mothers, disabled people and students also enroll in the work experience degree program.
     Whether you want to add in your degrees or finish your education work experience college degree is the most suitable option for you. Demand of executive education increased when scope of global business demanded higher level of education among employees. Work experience college degree is today the most sought after degree everywhere. Not just in US and UK but even in the developing countries work experience degree is very popular amongst people. Almost all organizations accept work experience degree. This is one of the reasons why work experience degree has become highly opted amongst professionals who wish to get exceptional success in their career lives.
     There are numerous distance education and online universities that are offering work experience degree. However some of these online education institutes are mere websites that have no background or authentic system. Generally referred as the degree mill, these websites provide unauthentic work experience degree. Most of the organizations now accept work experience degree. Some of them even collaborate with universities for arranging work experience degree programs for their employees.
      Students with work experience college degree makes to the finest organization without any hassle. There are lots of examples where junior level executives have been able to make big after acquiring authentic work experience degree. Ashwood University also offers work experience degree in all disciplines. From associate to bachelors, masters and doctorate, you can translate your experience into proper and authentic work experience degree in any major of your choice. Our authentic and recognized degrees are acceptable everywhere in the world.

5 Ways to Earn College Credit for Career and Life Experience

      Life experience degree programs are available at most accredited online colleges today. Using them can help you earn your distance degree more quickly—and at considerable cost savings. Why have most online universities developed life experience college credit assessment programs?  Today, the majority of "college kids" are 24 years old or older. In online bachelors degree programs, the average “college kid” is an adult student, about 36 years old. The average online masters degree student is 40 years old.
   

No. 1 - Challenge Exams
   Challenge exams have been developed to test what older students already know about college-level subjects ranging from accounting to foreign languages to nursing. For a modest fee, anyone can take these exams at local testing sites. Most exams are multiple choice, feature an average of one hundred questions, and can be completed in an hour or less.

College Level Exam Program (CLEP)

     CLEP, the College Level Exam Program, is the most widely accepted "life experience" challenge exam program. More than 2,900 accredited colleges, both residential schools and online schools, accept CLEP test results for undergraduate degree credit. The CLEP program features 32 single-subject college exams and five general exams. Single-subject exams cover material that is covered in a single college course. For example, the College Algebra CLEP covers the material commonly taught during an introductory course in college algebra. The cost for each CLEP is $70—a fraction of the cost of tuition for a single college course.
    The five general CLEP exams cover freshman-level knowledge in English composition, humanities, college mathematics, natural sciences and social sciences. If all five general exams are passed, up to 30 college credits may be awarded—the equivalent of an entire year of college.

No. 2 - The Academic Portfolio Option

     Some people express themselves better in written form, via papers and essays, than they do on multiple-choice tests. If this sounds like you, consider earning credits for experience by putting together a written academic portfolio.

You might be a good candidate for life experience or work experience college credits through the academic portfolio process if:

• Challenge exams are not offered in your area(s) of expertise
• You enjoy writing papers and reports
• What you know represents applied knowledge, rather than textbook theory
• You have products—such as artwork, certificates, business plans, articles, software, videos or written reports—which attest to your competency in selected subject areas.

Colleges that accept portfolios for review often require learners to enroll in a course to learn how to put together an academic portfolio.

      Learners in the distance learning program at Ohio University, for example, must complete the Life and Career Experiences Analysis course to learn how to compile a portfolio. The homework for this course involves working with an advisor to identify and document college-level knowledge for degree credit.

No. 3 - Corporate Training Programs

     Corporations spend more time, money and effort teaching adults than do all the colleges in America combined. Many large corporations operate their own “corporate universities,” which specialize in teaching employees everything from technical management to C++ programming.

Non-collegiate training programs can often be converted to life experience credit through a portfolio process. But many large corporations, such as AT&T, have subjected their training courses to a special review process sponsored by the American Council on Education's Program on Non-Collegiate Sponsored Instruction (ACE/PONSI), known today as the CREDIT program.

No. 4 - Professional Licenses and Credentials

The American Council on Education (ACE) has also reviewed professional certifications offered by non-collegiate agencies and made credit award recommendations for work experience in its free National Guide to College Credit for Workforce Training.

A few of these credentials are highlighted below:

• Certified Public Accountant
• Certified Computer Programmer
• Certified Novell Engineer
• Certified Professional Secretary
• Certified Purchasing Manager
• Chartered Financial Consultant
• FAA Pilot, Engineer, Mechanic Licenses
• Respiratory Therapy Technician

In addition to ACE-approved professional designations, online colleges often accept nationally recognized or state licenses. Aviation licenses, real estate licenses and professional health certifications, such as nursing diploma training, are all commonly accepted for college degree credits.

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No. 5 - Military Training Programs

    If you've been in the military in the last decade, you probably have ACE (American Council on Education) military credits that can be applied toward a college degree. Did you know that boot camp or basic training alone is worth several free elective college credits in first aid, personal hygiene, physical education and marksmanship?
   ACE publishes a whopping four-volume set on how military training and occupational specialties translate into university degree credits through the ACE process. The Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Armed Services can be accessed free online.

The guide contains ACE college credit recommendations for all formal courses and occupational specialties offered by the services.


Additional Points to Consider

• Limits on Credit for Life,  Work and Career Experience

Most regionally accredited online colleges limit the number of challenge exam credits they will accept to 30 credits (one year of college). The same is true for portfolio or ACE credits. In addition, typically the last 30 semester credits (senior year) of any regionally accredited bachelors degree must be taken directly from your degree-granting college.

• Special Distance Learning Assessment Colleges

Two regionally accredited distance-learning colleges in the United States—Thomas Edison State College of New Jersey and Excelsior College of New York—operate primarily as assessment colleges. These two special colleges allow students to earn entire undergraduate degrees through credit for life and work experience options.

However, most learners who attend these two colleges also complete some formal college courses to earn their degrees.

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Business Credit Basics

      Learning business credit basics can help your company invest and grow By Jessica Drew, Freelance Business Writer & Editor inShareBusiness credit cards can allow your company to invest in goods and services needed for its success, which in turn will grow your business and make you more money. Corporate credit is especially important if your business is just starting out and you don’t have a lot of cash or venture capital to buy the necessary assets. That being said, unfortunately, business credit basics tend to be like all things regarding credit--anything but basic.

      The main concept to keep in the forefront of your mind when considering business credit providers is that there will almost always be a business lending service that will permit you the desired line of credit, however it will most likely be at terms highly unfavorable to you. Also, unfair terms are often masked by legal jargon. Here are some basics you'll definitely want in a card:

1. The lower the interest rate on your business credit line the better.
2. Look for cards that offer no annual fees, this charge is often just thrown in as an "extra," and one that you don't need.
3. Find a card with a decent grace period, so if you’re late on payments, you won’t be heavily penalized.

Know your credit score and business credit information

By knowing your credit score, you know where you stand and what kind of terms you can expect from a business credit provider. If you have excellent credit and your business has a long and successful established history, you can expect a much more favorable rate than if your credit and business history is non-existent, fair or bad.
Try:  By law you are required to be able to obtain your credit report for free each year from one of three credit reporting agencies. 

Make a good effort to build business credit

Now that you know where you stand as far as your credit is concerned, you'll want to build your business credit to get the best deals on credit cards possible. Building your credit is complicated and based on multiple factors, which is why there are companies who charge fees to do this for you. However, most credit gurus advise against this route, as with a little effort you can see the same results building credit on your own.
Try:  All Business has an in-depth article that focuses on ways to increase and build your corporate credit. It also has an article that explains What Is Business Credit that will help further your understanding of the basics. Eliminate-Credit-Card-Debt-Now.com features a step-by-step guide that will lead your business to a better credit standing.

Find business credit cards with no personal guarantee

Business credit cards with no personal guarantee mean that if something were to ever happen to your sole proprietorship or LLC, that you would not be personally liable for the credit debts incurred by the company. These are the best types of credit cards to have, as your financial security and that of your family is protected, however they are the hardest to get approved for.
Try:  Nevada Corporate Headquarters offers a directory of reliable business cards with no personal guarantee. CreditCards.com offers a comprehensive comparison of several different business credit cards, so you can learn the differences between cards and get a better understanding of business credit basics.

• When considering business credit providers, make sure you attempt to negotiate terms. Although, the market for credit is pretty inflexible right now, it never hurts to try to negotiate a lower rate and you could end up with a better deal.

Home Credit Asia

          Home Credit is a multinational provider of consumer finance to qualified mass market customers. Its vast presence across each market where it operates consists primarily of its ‘loan outlets’ in different retail shops complemented with its own branches in selected markets and supported by close cooperation with various local payment channels including post offices.

Home Credit Asia as a ‘marketing umbrella label’ stands for all consumer finance businesses using the Home Credit brand and the Home Credit specific business model in Asia whose principal beneficiary is PPF Group N.V. (www.ppf.eu), the leading investment and financial group in Central and Eastern Europe.  The home Credit brand serves the mass population in three different Asian markets - China (since 2007), Vietnam (since 2008) and India (since 2012), and is developing a new business in Indonesia. Our 2,825 employees in Asia have already served a total number of 1.34 million customers, out of which 940 thousand took a loan in China (as of 30 June 2011).

‘Home Credit Asia N.V.’, as a legal entity is the principal holding company founded in 2006 and is domiciled in the Netherlands consolidating operations in all Asian markets excluding Vietnam and selected Chinese operations (company of Home Credit Consumer Finance (China) Co., Ltd.).

What we do

        Our core business is to provide consumer finance lending to qualified mass market (retail) customers, often first-time borrowers. In Asia we offer in-store financing, i.e. non-collateralized, non-cash loans primarily to customers seeking purchases of durable goods; we provide this service directly in the shops (“point-of-sales loans”). We finance the purchase of almost all consumer durables, such as home appliances, electronic goods etc. In selected markets we also provide cash loans to existing customers who have already established a good track record with us.

Qualified mass-market customers are defined as a segment of the population with regular disposable income, which is not deemed typical of the target segment for traditional retail banks.

Business model

         Home Credit’s distinctive business model has a three-fold strategy: firstly to acquire customers through POS loans; secondly to cross-sell to existing customers by providing cash loans (and also credit cards in selected markets) using its extensive multi-channel network: loan outlets in shops, branches in selected markets, mail, internet and phone; and finally to cross-sell both lending and deposit products to cater to the full consumer finance life-cycle and optimise profitability (progress into car loans, credit cards, retail deposits, insurance, etc.). The overall focus is on facilitating strong cross-selling opportunities and enhancing customer relationships to increase retention rates.

For a more detailed explanation of our products and services, please refer to the Products section of the website.

Trade credit

      Trade credit is an arrangement between businesses to buy goods or services on account, that is, without making immediate cash payment. The supplier typically provides the customer with an agreement to bill them later, stipulating a fixed number of days or other date by which the customer should pay. It can be viewed as an essential element of capitalization in an operating business because it can reduce the capital investment required to operate the business if it is managed properly. Trade credit is the largest use of capital for a majority of business to business (B2B) sellers in the United States and is a critical source of capital for a majority of all businesses. For example, Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world, has used trade credit as a larger source of capital than bank borrowings; trade credit for Wal-Mart is 8 times the amount of capital invested by shareholders.

For many borrowers in the developing world, trade credit serves as a valuable source of alternative data for personal and small business loans.^{[citation needed]}

There are many forms of trade credit in common use. Various industries use various specialized forms. They all have, in common, the collaboration of businesses to make efficient use of capital to accomplish various business objectives.

Example

    The operator of an ice cream stand may sign a franchising agreement, under which the distributor agrees to provide ice cream stock under the terms "Net 60" with a ten percent discount on payment within 30 days, and a 20% discount on payment within 10 days. This means that the operator has 60 days to pay the invoice in full. If sales are good within the first week, the operator may be able to send a check for all or part of the invoice, and make an extra 20% on the ice cream sold. However, if sales are slow, leading to a month of low cash flow, then the operator may decide to pay within 30 days, obtaining a 10% discount, or use the money another 30 days and pay the full invoice amount within 60 days.

The ice cream distributor can do the same thing. Receiving trade credit from milk and sugar suppliers on terms of Net 30, 2% discount if paid within ten days, means they are apparently taking a loss or disadvantageous position in this web of trade credit balances. Why would they do this? First, they have a substantial markup on the ingredients and other costs of production of the ice cream they sell to the operator. There are many reasons and ways to manage trade credit terms for the benefit of a business. The ice cream distributor may be well-capitalized either from the owners' investment or from accumualated profits, and may be looking to expand his markets. They may be aggressive in attempting to locate new customers or to help them get established. It is not on their interests for customers to go out of business from cash flow instabilities, so their financial terms aim to accomplish two things:

1. Allow startup ice cream parlors the ability to mismanage their investment in inventory for a while, while learning their markets, without having a dramatic negative balance in their bank account which could put them out of business. This is in effect, a short term business loan made to help expand the distributor's market and customer base.
2. By tracking who pays, and when, the distributor can see potential problems developing and take steps to reduce or increase the allowed amount of trade credit he extends to prospering or posure to losses from customers going bankrupt who would never pay for the ice cream delivered.

Establishing Business Credit

   Let's start by talking about your business credit score. Business credit scores range on a scale from 0 to 100 with 75 or more considered an excellent rating. Personal credit scores, on the other hand, range from 300 to 850 with a score of 680 or high considered excellent.

It's important to note that there are many factors that affect a credit score; it's based on more than just whether you pay your bills on time. Your score can be affected by the amount of available credit you have on bank lines of credit and credit cards, the length of time you've had a credit profile, the number of inquiries made on your credit profile and more. You can find out more about what factors affect your credit rating by visiting www.myfico.com.

    The mistake many business owners make is using their personal information to apply for business credit, leases and loans. By doing so, they risk having a lower personal credit score.

    Why is that? The average consumer credit report gets just one inquiry per year and has 11 credit obligations, typically broken down as 7 credit cards and 4 installment loans. Business owners are not your average consumer, however, because they carry both personal and business credit. This typically doubles the number of inquiries made to their personal credit profile and the number of credit obligations they carry at any given time, all of which negatively impact their personal credit score. And because business inquiries and personal inquiries aren't separated on their personal credit report, the scores, again, is negatively affected. At the same time, by using their personal credit history to get business credit, they're not able to build their business score, which could help them attain critical business credit in the future.

The key to establishing a business credit profile and score is to find companies that will establish credit for your business without using your personal credit information and then report the payment experiences to the business credit bureaus. By reporting the information to the proper agencies, they'll help you establish your business credit profile.

The following are the basic steps you need to take to establish your business credit profile and score: