Metro 2 Account Type Code 7A: Commercial Line of Credit (Personally Liable)

Specification

Code	7A
Meaning	Commercial Line of Credit (Personally Liable)
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)

Personal liability is the entire justification for furnishing a commercial obligation to a consumer bureau. Without it, the account belongs in commercial reporting only.
The borrower of record may be the business, but the individual has signed as an obligor, not merely as an authorized signer on the business's account.
Distinct from Account Type 9B, which is the personally GUARANTEED business line. A guarantor is secondarily liable; a personally liable obligor is directly liable.
Does NOT mean a personal line of credit used for business purposes. A line underwritten to the individual is Account Type 15 or 47.
Does NOT mean a business credit card. Card-accessed business revolving accounts have their own card account types and Portfolio Type R.

1A community bank reports a small-business line of credit where the owner signed as a co-obligor and is directly liable.
2A lender reports a commercial line drawn seasonally for working capital, with the principal personally on the note.
3A bank reports a commercial line frozen to new draws while the outstanding balance is repaid, the owner remaining liable.
4A lender reports a commercial line that was paid off and closed with the personal liability released.
5A bank reports a commercial line that charged off, with the deficiency pursued against the personally liable individual.

Furnish to a consumer bureau only where the individual is genuinely personally liable, and be able to evidence it from the loan documents.
Report the approved line as the Credit Limit and the drawn balance as the Current Balance.
Do not report the business's name in the consumer name fields. The Base Segment names the individual consumer.
Do not code as 7A a line where the individual is only a guarantor; that is Account Type 9B.
Report the tradeline consistently every cycle rather than only when a balance is outstanding.

A file can be structurally valid and still be wrong. These are the cross-field conditions Account Type Code 7A has to satisfy.

Portfolio Type must be C (Line of Credit).
Portfolio Type C expects a populated Credit Limit and a Highest Credit reflecting the peak draw. Both matter on a commercial line, where the swing between them can be large.
The ECOA code must reflect the individual's actual liability as an obligor. An ECOA value implying authorized-user status on a personally liable commercial line is a contradiction.
A second personally liable individual ships as a J1 or J2 associated consumer with a co-maker or joint ECOA code, not as a second Base Segment for the same account.
Scheduled Monthly Payment is the contractual minimum for the current balance and may vary by cycle, unlike an installment payment.
Date Closed is populated only when the line is terminated, not when the balance happens to reach zero.
Current Balance above Credit Limit on a commercial line usually signals a stale reported limit after a reduction rather than a genuine over-advance, and it will trigger a balance-exceeds-limit edit.
Terms Frequency M is normal for a revolving commercial line; a single-payment or installment frequency contradicts Portfolio Type C.