The WTF Thread

[Matt]

Several people have asked me for a Lexicon of terms to be built in order to improve communication on the Forum. If you would like to reply to this thread with either:

• Abbreviations that you don't understand
• OR
• Abbreviations that you think should be included in the Lexicon for others

I'll be happy to start collating the questions and answers into a Wiki.

There are two types of phrases we will encounter, one is online/fora specific and the other is 'the game' specific, feel free to ask/put forward for either.

 

[Matt]

Well, I had a lot of requests for this, but I guess nobody wants to go first?

 

[dshah9380]

HT to Myfio(dot)com abbreviations forum-

Common Abbreviations

AA = Adverse Action
AAoA = Average Age of Accounts
AFAIK = As far as I know
AG = Attorney General
APR = Annual Percentage Rate
AR = Account Review
AU = Authorized User
BADDIE = Any negative or derogatory item on your report
BBB = Better Business Bureau
BK = Bankruptcy
BT = Balance Transfer
BTW = By the way
BUMP = Used by someone when they are looking for an answer to the thread, but have not received one yet
CA = Collection Agency
CBR - Credit Bureau Report
CC = Credit Card
CCC = Credit Card Company
CCCS = Consumer Credit Counseling Services
CFL = Consumer Finance Loan
CL = Credit Limit
CLD = Credit Line Decrease
CLI = Credit Line Increase
CMRRR = Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested
CO = Charge Off
CR = Credit Report
CRA = Credit Reporting Agency ( TransUnion, Equifax, Experian)
CRO = Credit Repair Organization
CRTP = Credit Reporting Time Period
CS = Customer Service or CreditSecure(R) (depends on context)
CSR = Customer Service Representative
DD = Dear Daughter
Derog = Derogatory
DH = Dear Husband
DMP = Debt Management Program
DOFD = Date of First Delinquency
DOLA = Date of Last Activity
DS = Dear Son
DTI = Debt to Income
DV = Debt Validation
DW = Dear Wife
EQ (also EFX) = Equifax
EX (also EXP, XPN) = Experian
FA = Fraud Alert
FAKO = Generic credit score, not a true FICO
FC = Foreclosure
FCRA = Fair Credit Reporting Act
FDCPA = Fair Debt Collections Practices Act
FI = Fair Isaac
FR = Financial Review
FSR, FS&R = Friendly, Supportive & Respectful
FTC = Federal Trade Commision
FWIW = For What It's Worth
GC = Green Card from Certified Mail
GL = Good Luck
GW = Good Will
HELOC = Home Equity Line of Credit
HIPAA = Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
HP = Hard Pull
HTH = Hope This Helps
IIB = Included in Bankruptcy
IME = In my experience
IMHO = In My Humble Opinion
IMO = In My Opinion
INQ = Inquiry
ITS = Intend to Sue
JDB = Junk Debt Buyer
JK = Just Kidding
JMHO = Just My Humble Opinion
JMO = Just My Opinion
LOC = Line of Credit
LOL = Laughing Out Loud
LTV = Loan to Value
OC = Original Collector or Original Creditor
OP = Original Poster or Original Post
MOV = Method of Validation
OT = Off Topic
PC = Product Change
PFB = Planet Feedback
PFD = Pay For Delete
PIF = Pay in Full
PL = Personal Loan
PM = Private Message
PP = Permissible Purpose
PR = Public Record
RECON = Reconsideration
SOCK DRAWER = Where you put CC's that you won't be using for a while
SOL = Statute of limitations
SP = Soft Pull
RTC101T= Read the Credit 101 Thread
SW = ScoreWatch
TC = TrueCredit
TD = Turned Down
TL = Tradeline.. An entry in your credit history.
TU = TransUnion
UTL, UTIL = Utilization of debt to credit line
WO = Write Off
YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary

 

[Annie H.]

HUCA-- hang up, call again
BA--I think this has come to mean Arrival Plus, I'm not sure-???

HTH, hope this helps
IIRC- if I recall correctly
RTT- read the thread
RTFM-- my all time fav. that can apply to all of life- read the frickin' manual--that's if you can find it
OBC- Old Blue Cash
AOR-App-O-Rama

why isn't there a DW?

WAG- Walgreens
-4 - 7-11
RA- Rite Aid

trying to think back to when I first started when all of this was like a foreign language AND folks were told :
1) take the time to learn for yourself
2) we don't need Wikis or resources that are too detailed, it's spoonfeeding

feels like there are hundreds, wish I'd kept track from the beginning when I started to learn this strange, new language

 

[Matt]

trying to think back to when I first started when all of this was like a foreign language AND folks were told :
1) take the time to learn for yourself
2) we don't need Wikis or resources that are too detailed, it's spoonfeeding

And how do you feel about that now that you have gone through the process somewhat?

 

[dshah9380]

I know you asked the question to Annie H but I will still chime in. I always felt the thrill when I am able to understand something myself- by going through the forums- trying to figure out the puzzle and ask questions in this forum. If I was spoonfed, it might have taken the thrill away and I won't have invest so much time to learn this game but because I invested time and went through the motions, I feel I captured the essence of each trade. I wouldn't change anything If I had the chance of an do over. May be just would have gotten OBC way sooner

 

[Annie H.]

And how do you feel about that now that you have gone through the process somewhat?

I think there are two sides to the story and it's hard to tease out. There's a certain amount of time one needs to spend as an "apprentice"--I think that amount of time differs for each of us as we all learn differently. Once that concept is digested, I think it *could* be up to the individual to say, "hey--I've read and studied and I just don't get X"-- can you answer me directly and not tell me to "RTH." Or--frick-- all I can do is "A,B,C"-- I don't want to screw it up, can you answer me directly about this without a damn head smacking picture.

I love the direction the forum is taking. As you may or may not remember, I advocated and argued for stuff like this a long time ago. I started the somewhat mocking #Crowdsourching #spoonfeed thread/resource so folks could get direct questions answered--but it was predicated on-- "you know me, you've seen me interact on the forum, this isn't my first post and I'm willing to do the work, give me the pointers"--changing, evolving, exactly what the world is about, old or young, wine or not .

 

[Matt]

I think there are two sides to the story and it's hard to tease out. There's a certain amount of time one needs to spend as an "apprentice"--I think that amount of time differs for each of us as we all learn differently. Once that concept is digested, I think it *could* be up to the individual to say, "hey--I've read and studied and I just don't get X"-- can you answer me directly and not tell me to "RTH." Or--frick-- all I can do is "A,B,C"-- I don't want to screw it up, can you answer me directly about this without a damn head smacking picture.

I love the direction the forum is taking. As you may or may not remember, I advocated and argued for stuff like this a long time ago. I started the somewhat mocking #Crowdsourching #spoonfeed thread/resource so folks could get direct questions answered--but it was predicated on-- "you know me, you've seen me interact on the forum, this isn't my first post and I'm willing to do the work, give me the pointers"--changing, evolving, exactly what the world is about, old or young, wine or not .

Personally, I still lean towards not doing this, however since several people brought it up again recently I've reconsidered my position and am more open to it.

For me the two sides are:

1. If you spoonfeed too much you get someone from A-Z too fast, and they didn't internalize lessons on the way, making a shakey foundation for when things go awry.
2. You have people who won't interact because they don't want to ask that obvious 'what does XYZ mean?' because it betrays their lack of knowledge.

For the latter, I added the second bullet for those people (so you can pretend that YOU know, but you think your aunty/cousin/friend would benefit from knowing what that word means.

As a sidenote, there is tremendous power from creating an internal language, it breeds loyalty, however I am not sure that is always good as it can also become exclusionary. There are some fora that have people who pounce on you for not knowing 'their way'.

Tricky business this stuff.

 

[dshah9380]

2. You have people who won't interact because they don't want to ask that obvious 'what does XYZ mean?' because it betrays their lack of knowledge.

From my own experience in work and play, I have found that people who really really want to know some thing, eventually find a way to figure out the stuff themselves. This way they understand the intricacies of the trade and remember them thru and thru. I prefer that approach which only needs 'nudge' in their right direction.

 

[Haley]

Kate- Walmart Kiosk
CA- cash advance
and HT- hat tip (gives credit to the source of info)

Some of the lingo is best discovered, but much of it is just shorthand.

 

[Jawa]

Kate- Walmart Kiosk

I heard the following story related to this abbreviation.

In a world where the the US treasury no longer allowed the purchase of dollar coins using CC,
in the early days of the BB era,
when MS was in its darkest hour,
one FT poster dared to experiment on his own dime rather than ask to be spoonfed the best approaches
and discovered the ability to load BB with gift cards using the walmart kiosk.
He happily shared his discovery on FT, since back in those days that was still a thing,
and noted that he had successfully loaded his $200 staples visa GCs onto BB using the "Kiosk At The Entrance by the money center".
So the term kate was introduced into the MS lingo, quickly becoming a secret handshake of sorts for older MSers discussing stuff in front of newbies.

 

[MilesJunkie]

Around here, government work is ALL ABOUT acronyms! They have one for everything!

 

[Annie H.]

tl;Dr - Too long, didn't read, Aka - - msryb-MS Rots Yer Brain or at least takes up way too much valuable space.

 

[nickelfish1]

The Entrance by the money center".
So the term kate was introduced into the MS lingo, quickly becoming a secret handshake of sorts for

I never understood Kate. You'd think it would be Mona or Monica..since those names are closer to money center. But, maybe that was the point....for people to walk around WM asking for Kate.

 

[Steven58]

can someone add AF to the list? (annual fee) tia.

 

[Matt]

can someone add AF to the list? (annual fee) tia.

Absolutely. Anyone can

 

[InstinctX]

I've always enjoyed figuring out things for myself, so I can see both sides. However, when people were talking about TVs and Walmart, I simply couldn't figure it out. I guessed it was a type of Vanilla, but I was way off.

TV - 1K money order

Also, it seems like using a ton of acronyms is associated with being cool - hence newbies making up their own (that no one else understands) and some people acting like: "Oh, don't tell me you are actually so naive that you spelled out Walmart, when you simply could have written WM."

Sorry -- blame me for the invention of "TV" -- it was intended as a light-hearted "inside" joke for draining <Edit> at WM -- and why may of our charges would be for the same amount; WM actually carries 2 models, which are good deals... they have the $998.30 model, and tax is only $.70. My WM no longer carries the $1998.12 model

 

[Matt]

Sorry -- blame me for the invention of "TV" -- it was intended as a light-hearted "inside" joke for draining <Edit> at WM -- and why may of our charges would be for the same amount; WM actually carries 2 models, which are good deals... they have the $998.30 model, and tax is only $.70. My WM no longer carries the $1998.12 model

OK if we are going to go there, its time to bring out the British:

Pony = $25
Ton = $100
Monkey = $500
Bag= $1000

Hope that helps my old China.

 

[InstinctX]

I srsly have FOMO if I don't read FT, to see what's still "on fleek"

 

[raenye]

OK if we are going to go there, its time to bring out the British:

Pony = $25
Ton = $100
Monkey = $500
Bag= $1000

Hope that helps my old China.

You just made me read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyming_slang

 

[MickiSue]

The list near the top may confuse some. AA can be American Airlines, Alcoholics Anonymous, or (as in that list) Adverse Action. It's OK to ask what an acronym means. But really, if you ARE a newbie, and you see a bunch of acronyms that you don't understand, and choose to make up your own in response, there's a good chance that no one who might have assisted you on your path will know what the heck you are talking about. And you will learn more slowly.

"What does this mean?" is a reasonable request. "Walk me through this with illustrations and circles and arrows," is not.