MMonthly
Terms Frequency Code M: Monthly
Terms Frequency Code M means "Monthly". One payment is due each month. This is the cadence Metro 2 was designed around, and the value on the overwhelming majority of consumer tradelines. It is reported in Terms Frequency (Field 28) of the Base Segment, 1 character at position 194.
Specification
| Code | M |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Monthly |
| Field | Terms Frequency (Field 28) |
| Record | Base Segment |
| Length / position | 1 char · 194–194 |
| Category | Monthly |
| CRRG reference | CRRG Base Segment field definition, Terms Frequency |
What Terms Frequency Code M means
- M aligns the contractual cadence exactly with the reporting cycle: one payment due, one record produced, one Payment History Profile position written.
- Because the mapping is one-to-one, everything else in the format behaves the way its name suggests. Scheduled Monthly Payment is literally the payment. Terms Duration in months is literally the payment count. Thirty, sixty, and ninety days past due correspond to one, two, and three missed payments.
- M is correct for credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, most personal and student loans in repayment, utilities, rent, and child support. If you are unsure and the contract bills monthly, M is the answer.
- M does NOT mean the consumer pays monthly. It means one payment is contractually due per month. A borrower who splits the payment into two voluntary halves is still on an M schedule.
- M does NOT apply to an account with no current payment obligation. A loan in deferment is D until repayment resumes, even though the underlying schedule is monthly.
- M does NOT excuse leaving Scheduled Monthly Payment blank on an installment account. Monthly cadence is exactly the case where the field is unambiguous and expected.
When to report M
- 1A bankcard issuer reports a credit card with a calculated minimum payment due each statement cycle.
- 2A mortgage servicer reports a 360-month fixed-rate loan with a level monthly principal-and-interest payment.
- 3A credit union reports a 60-month auto loan with a fixed monthly payment.
- 4A student loan servicer reports a loan that has entered repayment and moves Terms Frequency from D to M in that cycle.
- 5A utility reports a residential account billed on a monthly cycle under Portfolio Type O.
Reporting rules
- Populate Scheduled Monthly Payment with the contractual monthly payment on every installment and mortgage account. This is the cadence where a blank value has no excuse.
- Populate Terms Duration as the number of monthly payments in the original term (036, 048, 060, 180, 360), not the remaining count.
- Move a deferred loan from D to M in the cycle repayment resumes, so the tradeline does not keep signalling that nothing is due.
- Do not report M on an account whose contract genuinely bills weekly or bi-weekly just because monthly is easier. Report the cadence and convert the payment amount.
- Keep Terms Frequency stable across cycles. A frequency that flips between M and something else month to month signals a mapping bug in the extract, not a contract change.
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 M has to satisfy.
- Scheduled Monthly Payment equals the contractual payment with no conversion. A blank or zero value on an installment account in repayment trips scheduled-payment-missing-installment.
- Terms Duration is a count of monthly payments, so it reads directly as months. This is the only frequency where that intuition is safe.
- Valid with every Portfolio Type: I and M for amortizing loans, R and C for revolving minimums, O for cycle billing. M is the default across the entire format.
- Actual Payment Amount is directly comparable to Scheduled Monthly Payment under M, which makes the two fields together a clean signal of whether the consumer paid the full amount, more, or less.
- The Payment History Profile advances one position per month in exact lockstep with the payment obligation, so a thirty-day delinquency means precisely one missed payment.
- A balloon payment on an otherwise monthly loan is reported as Terms Frequency M with the balloon detail in the K4 (Specialized Payment Information) segment, not as Terms Frequency P.
Common errors involving M
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 M in your own file
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