BSub-Monthly Cadence
Terms Frequency Code B: Bi-weekly
Terms Frequency Code B means "Bi-weekly". A payment is contractually due every two weeks, twenty-six times a year. Most months contain two payments and twice a year a month contains three. It is reported in Terms Frequency (Field 28) of the Base Segment, 1 character at position 194.
Specification
| Code | B |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Bi-weekly |
| Field | Terms Frequency (Field 28) |
| Record | Base Segment |
| Length / position | 1 char · 194–194 |
| Category | Sub-Monthly Cadence |
| CRRG reference | CRRG Base Segment field definition, Terms Frequency |
What Terms Frequency Code B means
- B means twenty-six payments a year, which is not the same as twice-monthly. The distinction from E (semi-monthly, twenty-four payments) is exactly two extra payments a year, and confusing the two is the most common misuse of this code.
- Because twenty-six payments do not divide evenly into twelve months, two calendar months each year contain three bi-weekly payments. A monthly record cannot express that irregularity, and the in-repo source states no rule for how the extra payment should be reflected.
- B is the one sub-monthly cadence that is routine in mainstream lending, through accelerated-payment mortgage programs where the borrower makes twenty-six half-payments a year and retires the loan years early.
- It is also the natural cadence for payroll-aligned lending, since most US employers pay bi-weekly, and for buy-now-pay-later Pay-in-Four plans built on a fortnightly schedule.
- B does NOT mean the servicer draws half a payment twice a month. That is E. Read the contract, not the bank statement.
- B does NOT license reporting the bi-weekly amount as the scheduled monthly payment. The conversion to a monthly equivalent is mandatory.
When to report B
- 1A mortgage servicer reports an accelerated bi-weekly payment program where the borrower pays half the monthly principal and interest every two weeks.
- 2A consumer lender aligns an unsecured installment loan to a borrower's bi-weekly payroll cycle.
- 3A point-of-sale lender furnishes a Pay-in-Four plan whose four payments fall every fourteen days.
- 4A credit union reports a share-secured loan repaid by bi-weekly payroll deduction.
- 5An auto lender offers a bi-weekly payment option and reports the contractual cadence rather than the monthly equivalent.
Reporting rules
- Convert to a monthly equivalent for Scheduled Monthly Payment. A bi-weekly payment multiplied by 26 and divided by 12 (roughly 2.17 times the bi-weekly amount) is the correct monthly figure; doubling it understates the obligation.
- Do not use B when the contract is semi-monthly. If payments fall on fixed dates such as the first and the fifteenth, the code is E.
- Express Terms Duration as a count of bi-weekly payments, and document that convention internally so downstream readers do not read it as months.
- Adopt a consistent rule for the two months a year that contain three payments, and apply it across the whole portfolio.
- For a short Pay-in-Four plan, be deliberate about whether the plan is furnished at all, and follow the point-of-sale industry guidance rather than improvising, because a six-week obligation can open and close between two monthly files.
Codes and fields that must agree
A file can be structurally valid and still be wrong. These are the cross-field conditions Terms Frequency Code B has to satisfy.
- Scheduled Monthly Payment is a MONTHLY figure under B, not the bi-weekly draw amount. This is the single most consequential cross-field rule on this page.
- Terms Duration counts bi-weekly payments. A bi-weekly frequency reported with a Terms Duration that is really a month count is a terms-frequency-mismatch.
- Pairs with Portfolio Type I and, uniquely among the sub-monthly codes, legitimately with Portfolio Type M through accelerated-payment mortgage programs.
- Actual Payment Amount should be the total received in the reported month, which will be two payments most months and three payments twice a year. That periodic spike is expected, not an anomaly.
- The K4 (Specialized Payment Information) segment carries deferred-payment and balloon detail where an accelerated or restructured product has it; it does not encode the bi-weekly cadence itself.
- The Payment History Profile still carries one position per month, so a single missed bi-weekly payment inside an otherwise-paid month has no distinct representation anywhere on the record.
Common errors involving B
Vocabulary
Keep browsing
- All 11 terms frequency codes — the full set with categories and cross-field rules.
- Metro 2 codes cheat sheet — every CRRG code set on one page.
- Terms Frequency field reference — position, length, and validation rules.
- Metro 2 format reference
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