Origination

The start of something. The Big Bang. Like the time you met that cutie at a party...and now you're married with four kids.

In finance, we're talking about loan or mortgage origination. You walk into a bank and start filling out some forms. They take you through the process, getting you to hand in all the pertinent paperwork about your finances, checking your credit score, getting the contracts ready and all the other documents you need to review and sign.

Once you get the loan (assuming you get approved), the originator might not keep it. They could sell your loan on the secondary market to another financial institution, who assumes the risk of default and receives the payments from that point forward.