Small piece of land on credit, often (5)
I believe the answer is:
croft
'small piece of land' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'on credit often' is the wordplay.
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'credit' becomes 'cr' (abbreviation).
'often' becomes 'oft' (synonyms).
'cr' put next to 'oft' is 'CROFT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for croft that I've seen before include "Scottish smallholding" , "Farm up north" , "Small (Scots) farm" , "Small Scottish rented farm" , "Scottish farmstead" .)