Cut through the jargon with our glossary of banking terms

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Debentures are fixed-interest securities on which the issuer pays interest at a fixed rate and for a specific term. In this way, debentures are similar to term deposits. The difference is that term deposits offered by financial institutions while debentures are issued by companies which are not licensed to take deposits. Instead companies offering debentures are subject to debt securities law and must issue a prospectus. Often, the interest income paid on debentures is higher than the rate paid on cash investments because of the longer term of the investment.

A debit card is a method of payment where funds are electronically deducted directly via the EFTPOS system from the cardholder's savings account to pay for purchases. No interest is charged, unlike a credit card where the card issuer advances credit to a cardholder which is repaid at a later date.

An electronic payment made directly into a bank or building society account, eg. wage and salary payments.

An electronic payment taken automatically from a customer's bank account by written agreement between the account holder and a goods or service provider. The amounts and dates may vary from payment to payment. Eg, monthly, quarterly or annual bills.

The one-off fee charged on final payout of loan.