Meaning & use
cheap credit
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountablefinancebusiness
Borrowing money at low interest rates, so loans are easy and inexpensive to get.
Grammar: Used without a: cheap credit encouraged spending, not a cheap credit.
Patterns
- cheap credit for someone
- a boom fueled by cheap credit
Years of cheap credit pushed up house prices across the region.
Small firms welcomed cheap credit after the central bank cut rates.
When cheap credit disappears, many families struggle with repayments.
Common combinations
- fueled by cheap credit
- The property boom was fueled by cheap credit.
- era of cheap credit
- We are leaving the era of cheap credit behind.
- access to cheap credit
- Access to cheap credit helped the startup expand quickly.
- flood of cheap credit
- A flood of cheap credit raised fears of inflation.
- end of cheap credit
- Analysts warned that the end of cheap credit would hurt borrowers.
Synonyms and how they differ
- easy credit
- Easy credit stresses how simple it is to qualify, while cheap credit stresses the low cost of interest.
- low-interest loans
- Low-interest loans describe specific products, whereas cheap credit refers to general market conditions.
- easy money
- Easy money often describes central bank policy and can sound critical, but cheap credit is more neutral.
Opposites
Word family
- credit noun
- borrowed money or the ability to borrow
- creditor noun
- a person or company owed money
- creditworthy adjective
- likely to repay a loan
Commonly confused: cheap credit or credit card?
cheap credit vs credit card
A credit card is a payment tool, whereas cheap credit describes the cost of borrowing in general.
Practice
What does cheap credit mean in a news story about a housing boom?
Choose one answer.
Cheap credit means borrowing is inexpensive because interest is low. It does not describe quality, discounts or crime.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cheap credit”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.