43Lines of Credit
Account Type Code 43: Debit Card Backed by a Line of Credit / Overdraft Protection
Account Type Code 43 means "Debit Card Backed by a Line of Credit / Overdraft Protection". A checking-account debit card or draft account with an attached credit line that funds transactions the deposit balance cannot cover. The credit line, not the deposit account, is what gets reported. It is reported in Account Type (Field 15) of the Base Segment, 2 characters at position 84.
Specification
| Code | 43 |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Debit Card Backed by a Line of Credit / Overdraft Protection |
| Field | Account Type (Field 15) |
| Record | Base Segment |
| Length / position | 2 chars · 84–85 |
| Category | Lines of Credit |
| CRRG reference | CRRG Exhibits 1 & 2 (Account Type Codes) |
What Account Type Code 43 means
- The credit obligation is the overdraft line behind the deposit account. The deposit account itself is not a tradeline and is never furnished.
- Balances tend to be small, volatile, and frequently zero, because the line is drawn only when a transaction overdraws the checking account.
- Does NOT mean a plain debit card. A debit card with no credit line attached creates no credit obligation and belongs in no Metro 2 file at all.
- Does NOT mean an overdraft fee. A one-off insufficient-funds fee on a deposit account is not a credit line; if it goes unpaid and is placed for collection, the collection tradeline is Account Type 48.
- The consumer's utilization on this tradeline is usually near zero, which is normal for this Account Type and should not be corrected toward the limit.
When to report 43
- 1A community bank reports a 500 dollar overdraft line attached to a consumer checking account, drawn twice in the year and repaid within days each time.
- 2A credit union furnishes a courtesy-pay line of credit tied to a member's share draft account.
- 3A bank reports an overdraft line that has been open for years and carries a zero balance every cycle.
- 4A bank reports an overdraft line that was closed for repeated over-limit activity and left a residual balance being paid down.
- 5An institution reports an overdraft line that charged off after the linked checking account was closed with a negative balance.
Reporting rules
- Report the approved overdraft line as the Credit Limit and the drawn amount as the Current Balance.
- Report a zero Current Balance rather than suppressing the tradeline in months when the line is not drawn. An open line with no activity is still an open obligation.
- Do not fold deposit-account overdraft fees into the Current Balance unless they were actually advanced against the credit line.
- Do not report this Account Type for a secured or unsecured personal line that is not linked to a transaction account; that is Account Type 15 or 47.
- Close the tradeline with a Date Closed when the line is terminated, even if the linked checking account stays open.
Codes and fields that must agree
A file can be structurally valid and still be wrong. These are the cross-field conditions Account Type Code 43 has to satisfy.
- Portfolio Type must be C (Line of Credit). Reporting an overdraft line as Portfolio Type R or O contradicts Appendix A.
- Portfolio Type C expects a populated Credit Limit. A line-of-credit account with a blank or zero Credit Limit is a data-quality failure, and it makes the tradeline unscorable for utilization.
- Current Balance above Credit Limit is possible on an overdraft line (the bank paid an item over the line) but it triggers a balance-exceeds-limit edit, so confirm the limit you are reporting is the current approved line.
- Highest Credit should reflect the highest amount ever drawn, not the credit line. Reporting Highest Credit equal to the limit every month masks real usage.
- Terms Duration on a line of credit is typically reported as an open-ended value rather than a month count, and Scheduled Monthly Payment reflects the required minimum, which may be zero when the balance is zero.
- Date Closed must be populated whenever the Account Status reflects a closed account, and must not be populated while the line remains available.
Common errors involving 43
B012B009B017
Portfolio Type Mismatch
The portfolio type does not match the account type or terms
Balance Exceeds Credit Limit
The current balance is greater than the credit limit/high credit
Highest Credit / Original Amount Is Zero
Highest Credit or Original Loan Amount is zero on an account that should carry one
Vocabulary
Keep browsing
- All 56 account type codes — the full set with categories and cross-field rules.
- Metro 2 codes cheat sheet — every CRRG code set on one page.
- Account Type field reference — position, length, and validation rules.
- Metro 2 format reference
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