Note: Do not rely on this information. It is very old.
Credit_1
Credit, Letter of, a circular letter addressed by a banking firm to its correspondents in other countries, requesting them to pay a certain sum to the person named therein. Commonly this person is a traveller, who obtains the sum mentioned by instalments in different places as he may require. American travellers frequently carry such letters in Europe; English travellers more commonly, perhaps, use the variety of letter of credit called circular notes (q.v.).