Uncertainty Analysis
A tool of quantitative risk analysis used to generate empirical histogram distributions for the outcome of a model, by means of sampling from the set of model input variables. It can be computationally intensive.

Undersecured Claim
A debt secured by property that is worth less than the full amount of the debt.

Underwriting
In mortgage lending, the process of approving or denying a loan based on an evaluation of the property and the applicant`s creditworthiness and ability to repay the loan. The underwriter analyses the risks involved and selects an appropriate loan term and interest rate.

Underwriting
The process of assessing the risk of any request for credit and reaching an accept or decline decision based on that assessment.

Unearned Income
Unearned income comes from sources such as interest, dividends, rental income and pension benefits.

Unexpected Losses
A common term used to describe exceptionally large losses.

Unified Messaging System
The handling of voice, fax, and regular text messages as objects in a single mailbox that a user can access either with a regular e-mail client or by telephone. The PC user can open and play back voice messages, assuming their PC has multimedia capabilities. Fax images can be saved or printed.

Uniform Resource Locator
Abbreviated as URL. This is the global address of documents and other resources available on the World Wide Web.

Uninterruptible Power Supply
Known as UPS. This refers to a secondary power supply, allowing essential machinery and systems to keep running when the main power supply fails.

Univariate Analysis
Any form of analysis in which only one variable is considered.

Universal Agent
Refers to either an agent who can handle all types of incoming calls or an agent who can handle both inbound and outbound calls.

UNIX
A popular operating systems originally developed by AT&T’s Bell Labs.

Unliquidated Claim
A claim for which a specific value has not been determined.

Unsatisfactory Accounts
Accounts that have not performed according to the terms and conditions specified by the credit grantor. Also known as Bads.

Unsecured Claim
A claim or debt for which a creditor holds no special assurance of payment, such as a mortgage.

Unsecured Creditor
An unsecured creditor has no lien on the property of the company.

Unsecured Debt
A debt that has not been secured or guaranteed by the pledge of any collateral.

Unsecured Loan
An advance of money that is not secured by collateral.

Unzipping
Unzipping is the act of extracting the files from a zipped single file or similar file archive. If the files in the package were also compressed as is common practice, unzipping also uncompresses them.

Up Front Costs
These are costs or fees which are charged to the borrower at or before closing of the mortgage loan, such as loan application fees, appraisal fees, points, broker fees, credit report fees, real estate taxes, etc. Upfront costs can be paid by the borrower in cash or they can be added to the loan amount and financed over the life of the mortgage.

Up Selling
A technique for prompting customers to buy upgraded or premium products.

Update
The process of modifying or inserting new information onto a stored record. Updating can be done either in an on-line environment or via batch method.

Upper-bound
In a decision tree, the manner in which an input value, (which comes from the application processing system or account management system), is compared with the value of a decision key. An upper bound comparison means that a match occurs if the input value is less than or equal to the key value.

UPS
Acronym for Uninterruptible Power Supply. This refers to a secondary power supply allowing essential machinery and systems to keep running when the main power supply fails. UPS is usually either a diesel generator or a battery system.

URL
Acronym for Uniform Resource Locator. This is the global address of documents and other resources available on the World Wide Web.

USB Flash Drive
Is used for the general storage and transfer of data between computers.

Usenet
The Internet’s bulletin board, consisting of thousands of newsgroups.

Utilisation
One of the questions asked on an application form. This information is needed to develop a behaviour scoring model. See Characteristic.