Credit glossary
ECOA code
The field on each account that shows your relationship to it: individual, joint, authorized user, cosigner or another role.
The name comes from the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and CDIA's Metro 2 training lists ECOA codes among the consumer-level fields furnishers send. Your report usually displays the code in plain words, such as Individual, Joint or Authorized user, under a responsibility heading. It tells lenders whether a debt is legally yours alone, shared, or someone else's card you're only attached to.
A wrong code is a real, disputable error. An account listed as joint when you were only an authorized user puts someone else's debt and payment history on your file as if you owed it. After a divorce, the codes also explain why late payments on a joint account land on both reports, whatever the decree says about who pays.
See every ECOA codes in plain English, with what each one means and what to check on your report.
Guides that go deeper
- How to read your credit report, line by line and field by fieldWhat each section and field on an Equifax, Experian or TransUnion report means, which dates matter most, and how to tell normal entries from real errors.
- Divorce, joint accounts and your credit: separating what you shareA divorce decree doesn't change who a lender can collect from. A plan for untangling joint cards, loans and authorized users without credit damage.
- Metro 2 explained: the data format behind your credit reportLenders don't mail the bureaus your history. They send Metro 2 files. What the format holds, how e-OSCAR and ACDVs move disputes, and why it matters.
Sources
- Fundamentals Metro 2 Format Webinar Series, Consumer Data Industry Association
- Metro 2 Format Essentials+ Plus (training agenda), Consumer Data Industry Association
- Remove an Ex-Spouse's Name From Credit Report, Experian
This is education, not legal or financial advice. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it.