creditors meaning

Creditor: is the one (person, bank, entity) who lends money.

Creditor gives credit (not receives credit). 

This term is opposite to Debtors (one who borrows money).

One way I remember meaning of creditor is by this statement: "creditor is predator". If you owe money to a creditor he'll constantly pester you for money! ;)

There are 2 types:

a) Un-secured creditor: 

This type of credit is not secured by any collateral (security). It's like your Credit Card, who has lend you some money. And they usually charge more interest rates for that!

b) Secured creditor: 

Real creditors (banks, finance companies etc) gives credit after legal contracts only. If they fail to receive their money back - they can take things to court. Their Loan is against some asset only, which they can sell if they don't receive back their money.