Meaning & use
bank guarantee
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Meanings
nouncountablebusinessfinance
A promise by a bank to pay a customer's debt if that customer fails to pay it.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a bank guarantee or several bank guarantees.
Patterns
- issue a bank guarantee
- provide a bank guarantee for something
- a bank guarantee from a bank
The landlord asked for a bank guarantee before signing the lease.
Our supplier will only ship the goods once we provide a bank guarantee.
The bank guarantee covers the first two years of the contract.
nouncountablebusinessfinance
A written document from a bank containing this promise.
Grammar: Also countable; often used with verbs like show, present, or hold.
Patterns
- present a bank guarantee
- hold a bank guarantee
- the bank guarantee expires
Please present the bank guarantee when you collect the keys.
The bank guarantee expires at the end of March, so we need a new one.
She keeps the original bank guarantee in the office safe.
Word forms
| plural | bank guarantees |
|---|
Common combinations
- issue a bank guarantee
- The bank agreed to issue a bank guarantee for the full amount.
- provide a bank guarantee
- We can provide a bank guarantee if the buyer requires one.
- a bank guarantee for something
- They arranged a bank guarantee for the construction project.
- call in a bank guarantee
- If the work is not finished, the client may call in the bank guarantee.
- a bank guarantee expires
- Check when the bank guarantee expires before you renew the contract.
Synonyms and how they differ
- letter of credit
- A letter of credit is used mainly in trade to promise payment for goods, while a bank guarantee usually backs a specific obligation such as rent or a contract.
- surety bond
- A surety bond is similar but is often issued by an insurance company rather than a bank, and it is common in construction work.
- guarantee
- Guarantee is the general word for any promise to pay or perform; bank guarantee makes clear that a bank is the one giving the promise.
Word family
Commonly confused: bank guarantee or bank loan?
bank guarantee vs bank loan
A bank loan is money you borrow and must repay with interest; a bank guarantee is not money you receive, but a promise to pay if you fail to meet an obligation.
Practice
The landlord refused to sign the lease until the tenant produced a ______.
Choose one answer.
A bank guarantee is the document a landlord asks for as security, so it fits here. A bank loan is money borrowed, a bank statement is a record of transactions, and a bank account is where money is kept, so none of them works as security for a lease.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bank guarantee”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.