creditor
- 01 C1 Advanced
a person, bank, or company that you owe money to.
a person or business entity to whom a debt is owed for goods, services, or loans provided.
Simple“The company had to sell its office furniture to pay back its creditors.”
In context“The primary creditor filed a petition for bankruptcy when the firm failed to meet its scheduled interest payments for three consecutive months.”
UsageOften used in the plural when referring to the group of entities a failing business owes money to.
PitfallThe creditor paid the loan back. The debtor paid the loan back.A creditor is the one who receives the money; the debtor is the one who pays it back.
“Critics say adults should be free to disappear if they choose and warn that police tracking powers would be exploited by creditors chasing debtors and by abusers looking for partners who have fled.”
“The second is to ensure that creditors get repaid as much as possible for their loans.”
From Middle English creditour, from Anglo-Norman creditour, from Latin crēditor, from crēditum (“loan”), from crēditus, perfect passive participle of crēdō (“lend”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.