A lender is a person or entity which loans money to another person or entity. A creditor is the person or entity to whom the borrower must repay the money. Sometimes, the lender and the creditor are the same entity, other times they are different entities. For example, if you get a loan from a bank and then owe the money to the bank, the bank is your creditor. But the bank can sell your debt to another entity, so now, while you borrowed from the bank, you owe the money to the new buyer of your loan who is now the creditor.