Metro 2 Creditor Classification 01: Retail

Specification

Code	01
Meaning	Retail
Field	K1 Creditor Classification (Field K1-4)
Record	K1 Segment (Original Creditor Name)
Length / position	2 chars · 33–34
Category	Retail and Consumer Accounts
CRRG reference	CRRG Creditor Classification code table (K1 Segment)

Covers store-branded revolving accounts, in-house instalment plans for merchandise, and retail charge programmes where the merchant itself carried the paper.
Where a retailer's card was actually issued and owned by a bank partner, the original creditor is the bank, not the store, and 08 (Banking) or 12 (Financial) is the accurate classification even though the plastic carried the store's logo.
Does NOT mean the furnisher is a retailer. It means the debt started with one. A debt buyer holding a portfolio of store-card receivables reports 01.
Does not describe how the account behaved. A charged-off retail account is still classified 01; the charge-off is carried by Account Status, not by this field.
Fuel and travel-branded charge programmes have their own value (03), so do not fold them into 01.

1A collection agency reports a placed balance from a furniture retailer's in-house 12-month payment plan.
2A debt buyer purchases a portfolio of closed store-card accounts from a department store chain that self-funded its own card programme.
3A collection attorney files on an unpaid account originated by a regional appliance dealer's own credit desk.
4A servicer takes over a specialty retailer's discontinued instalment book and continues furnishing the accounts.

Classify by who held the receivable at origination, not by whose brand appeared on the statement.
Populate the K1 Original Creditor Name with the retailer's recognisable consumer-facing name, not a holding company the consumer never dealt with.
Do not switch the classification when the portfolio is resold. The original creditor's industry does not change hands.
If the retail card was a bank-issued co-brand, use the bank classification and name the issuing bank on the K1.

A file can be structurally valid and still be wrong. These are the cross-field conditions Creditor Classification 01 has to satisfy.

Only report this field on a record that actually carries a K1 segment. A K1 belongs on the tradeline when the furnisher is not the original creditor, typically a collection agency, debt buyer, collection attorney, or servicer.
Pairs with Base Segment Account Type 48 (Collection Agency/Attorney Account) when the debt was placed for collection, and 0C (Debt Buyer Account) when the receivable was purchased outright.
If the account was purchased rather than placed, the K2 (Purchased From / Sold To) segment should also be present, naming the seller. K1 names the original creditor, K2 names the transfer counterparty. They are frequently different companies and both are needed.
Portfolio Type on the Base Segment should still reflect the ORIGINAL product shape where known: R (Revolving) for a store card, I (Instalment) for a fixed-term merchandise plan.
Date of First Delinquency travels with the original creditor's account, not the placement or purchase date, and must be preserved unchanged when the K1 identifies a prior owner.