In This Section
Automatic Stay 
An automatic stay is the process during bankruptcy proceedings in which actions undertaken by a creditor to recover their outstanding debts from the company in question are put on hold.
Auction Value
The amount of value an asset (such as inventory or equipment) can be expected to generate under forced sale conditions, or a sales timeframe limited to 30-60 days.
Assignment of Claims Act
The Assignment of Claims Act is a federal law that enables a company, or borrower, to assign to a beneficiary cash or another asset that is due or is expected to come due provided certain qualifying conditions are met.
Asset-Based Loan
An asset-based loan is a credit facility that is supported and governed by an underlying pool of assets, otherwise known as a borrowing base.
Asset-Based Lending
Asset-based lending is a term that is often broadly applied to loans that are secured by receivables and inventory and other assets.
Asset Quality Rating
A borrower's Asset Quality Rating, or "AQR" is a BASEL risk rating used to estimated the expected loss, or potential losses associated with a particular loan extended to a borrower, and is a common measurement of credit risk.
As-is, Where-is
As-is, Where-is refers to the condition, state, and location of a particular asset at the time of sale.
Article 9 Sale
Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code sets forth a statutory scheme for both creating and enforcing security interests in personal property.
Arranger
The institution responsible for putting together the syndicate of lenders for a Borrower under the loan documentation.
Appraisal/Appraisal Report
A third party valuation of collateral, including inventory, equipment, or property, often which determines the collateral value in a Borrowing Base (prior to applying an advance rate).
Amortization
The amount of principal on a term loan that a Borrower is contractually required to pay periodically under a loan agreement.
Amendment
A change to an existing provision of a loan agreement.
Allowance for Bad Debt
A contra-asset account on a company's balance sheet based on the amount of accounts receivable it expects to be unable to collect.
Airball
The portion of an asset based loan which is not covered by collateral. Also known as a "stretch" or SOFA (secured over formula advance).
Aging
A schedule of accounts sorted by the month of an invoice’s original billing date.
Agent
A lender who is assigned a specific role under a loan document. Agents include administrative, collateral, documentation, and syndication agents.
Aged Inventory
Inventory which is stale or out of season as a result of not being sold for an extended period of time.
Advance Rate
A contractual percentage that a lender is willing to lend against eligible collateral.
Administrative Borrower
The entity who is appointed to act on behalf of a collection of Borrowers under a loan agreement.
Administrative Agent
The institution responsible for administering the loan agreement, including posting notices, remitting interest payments and borrowing requests, and acting as the primary representative of the Lenders.