LSlower Than Monthly
Terms Frequency Code L: Bi-monthly
Terms Frequency Code L means "Bi-monthly". A payment is due every two months, six times a year. Half the reporting cycles contain a due date and half do not. It is reported in Terms Frequency (Field 28) of the Base Segment, 1 character at position 194.
Specification
| Code | L |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Bi-monthly |
| Field | Terms Frequency (Field 28) |
| Record | Base Segment |
| Length / position | 1 char · 194–194 |
| Category | Slower Than Monthly |
| CRRG reference | CRRG Base Segment field definition, Terms Frequency |
What Terms Frequency Code L means
- L means every other month. It is the mirror image of the sub-monthly problem: instead of several payments crowding into one cycle, alternate cycles have no obligation at all.
- Do not read the name as twice a month. Twice a month is E (semi-monthly). L is once every two months, which is half as often as monthly, not twice as often.
- The reporting consequence is that a no-payment-due month should not be read as a missed payment. A validation rule that flags every zero Actual Payment Amount will generate false delinquencies across an entire bi-monthly portfolio.
- L is rare in mainstream consumer credit and shows up mostly in specialty, seasonal, and some commercial or member-billed arrangements.
- L does NOT change the monthly nature of Scheduled Monthly Payment. The monthly equivalent is half the bi-monthly payment.
- L does NOT mean the consumer may skip a month. It means the contract does not require a payment in that month.
When to report L
- 1A specialty lender structures a loan around a borrower's every-other-month income and reports the bi-monthly obligation.
- 2A membership or service provider bills on a two-month cycle and furnishes the obligation under Portfolio Type O.
- 3A seasonal equipment lender sets payments every second month during an operating period.
- 4A lender restructures a struggling installment loan onto a bi-monthly schedule as a documented workout and updates Terms Frequency accordingly.
- 5A furnisher reports a bi-monthly account and suppresses its own internal past-due flag in months with no due date.
Reporting rules
- Populate Scheduled Monthly Payment with the monthly equivalent, which is half the bi-monthly payment, so the consumer's monthly burden is stated correctly.
- Do not report a delinquency in a month with no payment due. That is the defining failure mode of this cadence.
- Express Terms Duration as a count of bi-monthly payments, and document the convention so a reader does not halve or double the term by mistake.
- Confirm the contract really is every-other-month rather than twice-monthly before choosing L over E. The two are frequently transposed.
- Continue producing a record every month even in cycles with no payment due. The reporting cycle is monthly regardless of the payment cadence.
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 L has to satisfy.
- Scheduled Monthly Payment is a MONTHLY figure and equals half the bi-monthly contractual payment. Reporting the full bi-monthly amount doubles the consumer's apparent monthly obligation and is an amount-logic-error.
- Terms Duration counts bi-monthly payments, so twelve payments is two years. Reading it as months under L understates the term by half.
- Pairs with Portfolio Type I and occasionally O. L on Portfolio Type R or M is a strong signal of a mapping error, since cards and mortgages bill monthly.
- Actual Payment Amount will be zero in alternating months by design. Any validation that treats a zero actual payment as evidence of non-payment must be gated on Terms Frequency.
- Account Status in a no-payment-due month should carry forward the account's real condition, not degrade because nothing was received.
- The Payment History Profile still advances monthly, so the furnisher must decide how to populate the positions for cycles with no obligation and apply that choice consistently.
Common errors involving L
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
See Terms Frequency Code L in your own file
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