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Making a late payment on your credit card, mortgage or loan can hurt your credit score and affect your overall credit health. Whether you are just three days late or 30 days late, not paying your bills on time could affect you for months and potentially years to come.
Effects of Late Payments
Banks and issuers consider payment history when evaluating your credit risk and deciding whether or not to approve you for credit. A long-standing history of on-time payments suggests that you are a responsible and reliable borrower; a poor history of on-time payments suggests that you may not repay debts and could result in a costly loss to the bank or issuer.
Being unreliable with payments is a red flag to financial institutions, and several things can occur when you pay late.
You'll usually be charged a late fee. If you pay your credit card bill a single day after the due date, you could be charged a late fee in the area of $25 to $35, which will be reflected on your next billing statement. If you continue to miss the due date, you can incur additional late fees.
Your interest rates may rise. Paying your creditors late may result in an increase in your interest rate, often resetting your interest rate to a penalty (or default) APR. For credit cards, the penalty APR is often as high as 29.99%, which means you'll pay significantly more in interest on your outstanding balance if it's triggered. If you have a promotional 0% APR on a balance transfer credit card, paying late may also forfeit your 0% promotional rate and reset it to the default interest rate.
It may end up on your credit report. If your payment is more than 30 days late, the three major credit bureaus are usually notified, meaning the late payment will show up on your credit reports. A late payment on your credit report could stay on your credit report for seven years.
It might decrease your credit score. Payment history information typically accounts for nearly 35% of your credit score, making it one of the single most important factors in calculating your score. Just one late payment can drastically lower your credit score, especially if you have a good or excellent credit score. Depending on how late your payment is, how frequently you pay late and what your credit score is, late payments can severely affect your credit.
Paying late is a dangerous credit habit that could lead to more damaging credit actions, such as neglecting an account until it becomes delinquent or sent to collections. An account in collections may remain on your credit report for seven years and cause even more damage than a late payment account until it becomes delinquent or sent to collections.
