Credit risk is a risk that's experienced by a lender when a lender is uncertain of getting money back from a borrower. The credit risk involved is usually around the lender's cash flows becoming halted or otherwise interrupted because of a borrower not paying principal or interest on a loan. Credit risk could be a person who cannot pay a car payment, a company that cannot meet its lending obligations to a bank, or a government that cannot meet its financial obligations to the treasury.

When there's an unpaid loan, the credit risk can involve unpaid monies on the principal or on the debt. Credit risk can also involve other losses due to extra collection costs. Credit risk may be higher when the borrower cannot liquidate to pay off a lender. If nonpayment becomes a higher risk, the lender may try to extract the money through higher interest rates as well.‎

It's valuable to learn about credit risk because you can understand the difference between creditworthiness and being a credit risk. At some point in your life, you'll be subject to a credit inspection to determine the level of credit risk you might be. The lender will seek to assess your ability to pay off the principal and interest of a commercial loan. It's important that you learn how to stake financial steps in order to learn how to maintain good credit standing. Learning about credit risk will help you to make changes in your own financial fundamentals to bring you to better credit levels. As a lender, learning credit risk will help you make more informed investment decisions.‎

Knowing about credit risk can help you learn how to manage your money effectively, how to maintain good-to-excellent credit rating status, and how to avoid having any credit liabilities on your credit report. Having a clean credit report can impact your career in positive ways, as employers routinely check credit scores and credit records of people they intend to hire. Having good knowledge of credit risk, and avoiding any smears on your credit report will be a good thing for your career prospects.

If you are in financial services, learning credit risk is a must. As a credit risk manager, you'll have to know how to provide the fundamental basics of credit risk management to preserve the client's capital and loan loss reserves at any particular time during the year.‎