Nanosecond
Also known as ns. Nanosecond is a unit of time representing one billionth of a second.

NCA
Acronym for National Credit Act. The South Africa act can be viewed on www.info.gov.za/view/DownloadFileAction?id=67888. 

NCOA
Abbreviation for National Change of Address, a US Postal Service system through which select national service bureaus have exclusive access to the change of address forms lodged by persons or businesses who have moved.

Nearest Neighbour
K-nearest neighbour technique, a technique that classifies each record in a data set based on a combination of the classes of the K record(s) most similar to it in an historical data set.

Negative Amortisation
Repayment schedule calling for periodic payments that are insufficient to fully amortise the loan. Earned but unpaid interest is added to the principal, increasing the debt. Eventually, payments must be rescheduled to fully pay off the debt.

Negative Factor or Value
When considering elderly applicants, utilising a factor, value, or weight that is less favourable than the creditor’s experience warrants or is less favourable than the factor, value, or weight assigned to the class of applicants that are not classified as elderly and are most favoured by a creditor on the basis of age.

Negative File
A collection of records which contain all accounts on which charge privileges have been revoked and/or require a voice authorisation.

Negative Re-pricing
The process of negatively changing the terms and conditions of the customers account, so that the customer now has worse terms and conditions. This is often done to reflect the customer’s higher risk and is an effective risk-based pricing strategy.

Negative Shift
A move in the population towards a higher risk portfolio.

Net
A nickname given to the Internet.

Net Asset Value
Value of a corporation or of a corporate asset according to accounting records, which is determined by dividing the number of issued shares into a company's net assets.

Net Credit Loss
The value of charged-off balance on credit products less any amount subsequently recovered by post charge-off collection actions, external agencies or legal action.

Net Income
The amount remaining after all costs, expenses, income taxes and extraordinary items are subtracted from net sales.

Net Interest Margin
This equates to net interest income as a percentage of average total assets. Net interest income is the difference between interest income and interest expense.

Net Names
The actual names used in a mailing, after removing the duplicates and matches to your customer list. In some cases, you can rent names on a net-name basis.

Net Payment
Payment to the merchant for sales drafts less credits and less the appropriate discount fee.

Net Payoff
The amount owed on a loan, excluding prepaid interest and insurance premiums.

Net Revenue
Discount income less interchange expense.

Net Settlement
The settlement, through an actual transfer of funds, of the net effect of a series of financial transactions involving customers of two or more banks.

Net Worth
Defined as total assets minus total liabilities.

Netlag
Slang for the condition that occurs on the Web when heavy traffic slows down server response time.

Network
Computers that are connected together.

Network Operator
This is any company, which runs a public telecommunications network. See NO.

Network Service Provider
A terminal-centred system that allows the merchant to obtain authorisation and/or data captured through the network. A third party vendor who provides authorisation network services such as Banknetand VISANet.

Neural Network (NN)
Non-linear predictive models that learn both structure and parameter values through training, which also superficially resemble biological neural networks in structure. See Hidden Layer.

Neural-fuzzy Systems
Combinations of neural networks with expert fuzzy systems.

Neutral Status
Status that is considered neither open, closed, nor paid.

Never Delinquent
An account that has never been past due for payments.

New Account
Accounts with an open or reported date on the credit report less than 24 months.

News Group
A newsgroup is a forum for sharing information and allows users to post messages and reply to other users.

Newsreader
A program that lets you read and reply to the messages in newsgroups.

Next Generation
The next version of software programs or technology. Also see First Generation, Second Generation and Third Generation.

Next Step
The designated next action in an execution path.

Niche Market
A way of finding a special product that appealed to only one group, and selling that product very profitably only to that group.

Nisi (Rule Nisi)
A decree, order or rule of court that will not be made absolute unless the person affected by it fails to show why it should not take effect within a certain period of time.

Nixie
A direct mail letter, which has been returned to the sender because the address was wrong. Also, any undelivered pieces of mail. Nixies are used to correct a list.

NN
Abbreviation for Neural Network. Non-linear predictive models that learn both structure and parameter values through training, which also superficially resemble biological neural networks in structure. See Hidden Layer.

NO
Abbreviation for Network Operator. This is any company, which runs a public telecommunications network.

No Information
The attribute assigned to a characteristic when the applicant failed to provide information for a particular characteristic or the characteristic was not prompted for on the application.

Node
A location defined by branch attributes on a tree. The root node is the initial node and all branches originate from it. The nodes on the bottom-most branches of the tree are the terminal nodes or leaves.

Nominal Variable
A variable that has values which are categorical and in no implied order. See Categorical.

Non Delivery Risk
A processed and cleared transaction charged to a cardholder's account for full or partial payment for a product/service in advance of delivery/receipt of the product/service to the cardholder.

Non Face-to-Face Transaction
Any transaction where the card is not presented, such as a mail order purchase.

Non-bank
A financial institution not offering retail banking services.

Non-linear
A relationship between two variables that varies more than just linearly over different regions of data.

Non-linear Model
An analytical model that does not assume linear relationships associated with the variables being studied.

Non-linear Regression
Non-linear regression aims to describe the relationship between a response variable and one or more explanatory variables in a non-linear fashion.

Non-parametric Method
A method which makes no assumptions regarding the type of distribution from which the data was sourced.

Non-regular Payments
These are payments made on an irregular basis, payment amounts also tend to vary. Typically, customers with irregular income such as farmers would make use this type of payment scheme.

Non-repudiation
Guarantee that a sender cannot falsely deny having sent a message. Non-repudiation is an essential role of cryptography systems.

Non-respondees
People who do not respond to unsolicited mail shots. This is used in pre-screening scorecards.

Non-sufficient Funds (NSF)
The returned payment reason code for when a customer’s cheque payment is returned for lack of funds in their current account.

Non-Volatile
Memory chips that retain their contents even without power.

Normal Distribution
A function that represents the distribution of many random variables as a symmetrical bell-shaped graph. Also known as Bell Curve and Gaussian Distribution.

Normalisation
Normalisation is a process used to quantify each portfolio’s performance in the industry, relative to its proportional size.

Notice Deposit Account
A special account into which funds are deposited for a specific period, for example, 32 days. See Deposit Account.

Notice of Default
Written notice to a borrower that a default has occurred and that legal action may be taken.

Notice of Motion
Usually the first document filed at court and served on a Respondent for purposes of commencing application proceedings. This document sets out the Applicant’s claim.

Notice of Right to Cancel
Under US federal law, you may be permitted to cancel or "rescind" a mortgage loan within a specified time, generally three days, after you have signed the loan documents. The lender is required to give the borrower notice in writing of this right to cancel or rescind and the deadline to cancel. The right applies to refinancing transactions, second mortgage loans, or other mortgage loans that do not involve the purchase of a home.

Notional
Probable but not known exactly or not quantifiable.

NSF
Abbreviation for Non Sufficient Funds. The returned payment reason code for when a customer’s cheque payment is returned for lack of funds in their current account.