Meaning & use
outstanding balance
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
the amount of money that is still owed on an account or debt
Grammar: Often used with 'the' or 'an': pay the outstanding balance.
Patterns
- pay the outstanding balance
- have an outstanding balance
- the outstanding balance on something
Please pay the outstanding balance by the end of the month.
The bank sent a letter about the outstanding balance on my credit card.
After making a partial payment, she still had an outstanding balance of $200.
Word forms
| plural | outstanding balances |
|---|
Common combinations
- pay off the outstanding balance
- He used his savings to pay off the outstanding balance.
- clear the outstanding balance
- The store requires you to clear the outstanding balance before you can buy more.
- outstanding balance on a loan
- The outstanding balance on the loan decreases each month.
- remaining outstanding balance
- The remaining outstanding balance must be paid within 30 days.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- balance noun
- The amount of money in an account or the amount left to pay.
- outstanding adjective
- Not yet paid or resolved, as in 'outstanding debt'.
Commonly confused: outstanding balance or balance?
outstanding balance vs balance
'Balance' alone can mean the amount of money you have in an account, while 'outstanding balance' always means money you still owe.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'outstanding balance' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The first sentence correctly uses 'outstanding balance' to mean money owed. The others confuse 'outstanding' with its meaning of 'excellent' or 'not yet paid' in a non-financial context.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “outstanding balance”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.