Designed for the general public and possibly suitable also for high school economics students, this booklet briefly explains the terminology associated with general economic concepts about banking and the Federal Reserve System. Part 1 deals with financial regulators and institutions, including nondeposit intermediaries and depository intermediaries. Part 2 presents terms related to monetary policy, particularly those dealing with open market policy, discount policy, and reserve requirements. Part 3 deals with the nation's payments mechanism and includes terminology related to the distribution of currency and coin, check processing, wire transfer of funds, and the operation of automated clearinghouses that transfer funds electronically among depository institutions. The terms in Part 4 describe foreign banking transactions and institutions. Over 30 terms dealing with consumer credit, such as annual percentage rate, open-end credit, balloon payment, buydown, amortization, fixed rate, graduated payment, and negative amortization are described in the final section. (LH)