How Long Do Late Payments Stay on Your Credit Report?

Introduction

It happens to a lot of people — for one reason or another, you didn’t make a payment on time and now it’s past due.

Even one late credit card payment — if it goes unpaid long enough to become a missed payment — can stay on your credit report for up to seven years. But like some of the other things that happen when you make a late credit card payment, you can minimize the impact if you take the right steps. And if you use tools like AutoPay proactively, you’re more likely to avoid being late entirely.

What’s Considered a Late Payment?

Strictly speaking, a late payment is any payment that your creditor hasn’t received by the payment due date for that billing cycle.

A payment is also considered late if you’ve made a payment before the due date, but for less than the minimum amount due.

However, credit card issuers generally won’t report a late payment to any of the major consumer credit bureaus until it is at least 30 or sometimes 60 days past due. At this point, since a payment wasn’t made within the account’s billing cycle, it’s considered a missed payment.

Many issuers will also charge a late fee. Each one has different policies and rules, so you’ll want to contact your lender to understand their practices around late fees.

How Long Can Late Payments Stay on Your Credit Report?

Once a late credit card payment is reported to the credit bureaus as a missed payment, it can stay on your credit report for up to seven years from the date of the original delinquency.

Even if you make up for the amount in a later billing cycle to bring your account current, that missed payment could remain a part of your payment history, unless you take further action. This could include writing a goodwill letter to your creditor or requesting payment arrangements that include removing the missed payment after the full repayment has been made. Just note that creditors aren’t obligated to remove missed payment information, so these options still come down to the creditor agreeing to work with you.

How Much Does a Late Payment Affect Your Credit Score?

Missing your credit card payment by 30 days could make your credit score drop by as much as 100 points, according to VantageScore. A longer delinquency or multiple delinquencies will negatively impact your credit score even more.

That said, a missed payment’s impact on your credit score depends on your individual credit profile. According to FICO, a higher credit score could drop more than a lower score, since the lower score already reflects some risk level.

How You Can Set Yourself up for Success With AutoPay

Benjamin Franklin may have been talking about fire safety when he coined “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” — but the man dropped some great financial wisdom over the years, so applying it to AutoPay just feels right.

Most credit card issuers offer AutoPay, which allows you to set up a recurring, scheduled automatic payment that will go through for every billing cycle.

This helps you avoid late credit card payments in the first place. In fact, it’s probably the simplest and most effective way to make sure that your payment always arrives on time.

If you’re hesitant about automating a potentially large transaction — perhaps you’re worried about the possibility of overdraft fees — you may be pleasantly surprised by how much control you have over AutoPay.

With AutoPay, you can select from a few different payment amounts, which usually includes the minimum amount due, the full balance or a fixed amount. These three options give you the flexibility to ensure that you pay at least the minimum amount due on time, every time.

And most issuers also allow you to request a new due date for your credit card. So, you can pick a due date based on when your paychecks arrive or when other bills are due. Then, you can schedule your AutoPay and it will trigger based on your new due date.

Once you’ve properly set up AutoPay, you can potentially avoid triggering overdraft fees and making late payments.

How Can You Improve Your Credit Score After a Late Payment?

Avoiding late payments in the first place is ideal, so that you don’t have to worry about a payment reaching missed status. But if there’s already a missed payment on your credit report, you might be wondering what you can do to improve your credit score. Fortunately, there are a few days you can take action.

Bring your account current

Bringing your account current is an essential step in preventing an already late payment from turning into a missed payment. But if it’s become a missed payment, you still want to get your account current on the path to improving your credit score. So, make the necessary payments as soon as possible.

Display good credit habits

After getting your accounts current, continue making your payments on time. A one-time occurrence tells a different story than a frequent pattern.

Older credit report items also tend to have a smaller impact on your score as time goes on, so as long as you avoid falling behind again — and continue to display good credit habits — you should start to bounce back.

Use AutoPay and other account features

Life can get busy. Understandably, many late payments happen because of a forgotten bill or due date. That’s why features like AutoPay and scheduling your card’s due date can be so helpful.

Remember, these are great tools for preventing late payments. If you’re working to bounce back from a missed payment, these features can help you avoid late or missed payments that could set you back again while you’re trying to make progress.

Is It Possible To Get a Late Payment Removed From Your Credit Report(s)?

We’ve established that creditors often report missed payments to one or more of the major credit bureaus and that those payments will typically stay on credit reports for up to seven years.

We’ve also mentioned how you can prevent late or missed payments from happening again. But what can you do about the one you already have?

Luckily, there are options for getting a missed payment removed from your credit reports.

With a goodwill letter, you can request that the creditor remove the missed payment information they reported to the bureaus.

Despite the name, this method doesn’t have to be a handwritten letter — you can call the customer service phone number on the back of the card or send an email.

Take note that this is effectively a negotiation, and the lender isn’t under any obligation to remove the information if it’s accurate. But it does happen.

Share your history of making on-time payments, and explain any circumstances that contributed to the lapse, but also take responsibility. And as with many things, a kind and courteous tone can only help. Here are a few more tips on writing a goodwill letter.

If you still owe your card issuer money, you can ask if they could remove the late payment as part of repayment arrangements. If your lender agrees to this, be sure to ask for your agreement in writing.

Bottom Line

A late credit card payment can have a big impact on your credit if not addressed and nipped in the bud. That’s why taking advantage of AutoPay can really help you out — by avoiding the damage in the first place with timely, automated payments.

But even if prevention is the best way to protect your credit, sometimes the damage has already happened. Luckily, you can still take action to mitigate and even repair the impact of late and missed payments over time.

If you’re in the process of rebuilding your credit, you can see if you pre-qualify for a credit card from Credit One Bank. These cards feature AutoPay and other credit tools that help put you in control.

It only takes a minute and there’s no impact on your credit score just for checking.