“John, I recently applied for a mortgage loan and I thought the broker was going to pull my credit report. Instead, she pulled something she called an “RMCR” credit report. When I looked at the report it didn’t look anything like I’ve ever seen before.  What exactly is an RMCR report?”

You’ve just experienced what many of us who are part of the consumer credit industry deal with on a daily basis, an industry acronym.

We’re loaded with them. You also just gave me a great idea for a blog, deciphering common credit industry acronyms.

I’ll start with your question.

What is RMCR?

RMCR – An RMCR is a Residential Merged Credit Report, sometimes called a Residential Mortgage Credit Report.

Mortgage lenders want to see all three of your credit reports and three of your credit scores.

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The RMCR allows them to do so without having to pull each of your credit reports independently.

The RMCR combines your three credit reports into one “merged” credit report.

Other Common Credit Reporting Acronyms

CRA – A CRA is a commonly used acronym for a credit reporting agency.  Equifax, Experian and TransUnion are the generally recognized credit reporting agencies, although there are several more.

FCRA – The FCRA is the Fair Credit Reporting Act which, among other things, defines your rights vis-à-vis free annual credit reports and getting errors corrected.

CDIA – The CDIA is the Consumer Data Industry Association, which is the trade association of the credit reporting industry.

VSS – VSS is VantageScore Solutions, which is the company that maintains the VantageScore credit scoring system.

FICO – FICO is Fair Isaac Corporation, which is the company that maintains the FICO credit scoring system.

FCBA – The Fair Credit Billing Act is the Federal statute that limits our liability on credit card fraud to no more than $50.

EFTA – The Electronic Funds Transfer Act is the Federal statute that limits our liability on debit card fraud to no more than $500.

FDCPA – The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act defines how 3rd party debt collection companies have to operate re: collecting delinquent debts from consumers.

CROA – The Credit Repair Organizations Act is the Federal statute that defines how credit repair companies have to operate when offering credit improvement services to consumers.

ACDV – An Automated Credit Dispute Verification form is used by the credit reporting agencies to communicate consumer disputes to lenders and collection agencies.  The non-automated predecessor to the ACDV was the CDV, which stands for Consumer Dispute Verification form.

AUD – An Automated Universal Data form is used by lenders and collection agencies to proactively correct or modify information on a consumer’s credit reports.  The non-automated predecessor to the AUD was the UDF, which stands for Universal Data Form.

CRO – A Credit Repair Organization is a company, as defined by Federal and state law, that markets and sells credit report improvement services to consumers for a fee.

e-OSCAR – Online Solution for Complete and Accurate Reporting is the communication protocol used by the credit reporting agencies to communicate disputes to their furnishing companies, normally a lender or a collection agency.

PACER – Public Access to Court Electronic Records is used by the credit reporting agencies to collect bankruptcy information, which is then placed on consumer credit reports.

AA Letter – An AA letter is an “Adverse Action” letter, which is a declination letter. If you are denied credit because of your credit report and/or credit score the lender is obligated by Federal law to send you an Adverse Action letter.

DMP – A Debt Management Program (or “Plan”) is a service offered by credit counselors that are members of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (or “NFCC”). The DMP is a systemic way to pay down your credit card debt.

John Ulzheimer is the Credit Expert at CreditSesame.com, and a credit blogger at Mint.com, CreditCardInsider.com and the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.  He is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring and identity theft. Formerly of FICO and Equifax, John is the only recognized credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry. The opinions expressed in his articles are his and not of Mint.com or Intuit. You can follow John on Twitter here.