How long do late payments stay on your credit report?

Late payments on a credit card happen. But no matter the reason, a late payment could stay on your credit report for up to seven years. Late payments could also lead to potential fees and penalties.

Keep reading to explore when payments are considered late and when they’re actually reported. Plus, learn the steps you can take to avoid missing payments.

Key takeaways

• Credit card payments that are submitted after the payment due date could be considered late.
• Being late with payments, even by a day, could result in extra fees and higher interest rates. 
• Once a payment reaches 30 days or more past due, it can be reported to credit bureaus and included on credit reports. 
• Late payments could stay on your credit report for up to seven years.
• You can avoid late payments by creating payment reminders and setting up automatic payments.

A late payment can stay on your credit report for up to seven years. The seven-year period starts on the date when the late payment was reported. 

Although a late payment can affect your credit scores during the entire seven-year span, the negative effect on your credit score tends to decrease over time.

In general, lenders consider a payment late if you don’t submit your payment by the payment due date and time. But it can vary from one issuer to another. So check your card agreement to be sure you’re aware of the time of day the issuer requires a payment to be made.

By law, as long as a payment is received on the due date by 5 p.m. in the time zone stated on the billing statement, it can’t be considered late. Some issuers might even accept payments after 5 p.m. on the due date without considering them past due.

Generally, a late payment may be reported to a credit bureau after it’s 30 days past due. Check your card agreement to learn more about how your issuer handles credit reporting.

If a payment that brings the account current is made before the account is 30 days past due, the late payment typically won’t appear on credit reports from the three major credit bureaus: Experian®, Equifax® and TransUnion®. But if you can, it’s still best to pay at least the minimum amount due by the due time and date to avoid fees and finance charges.

Although a payment that’s between one and 29 days late generally won’t be reported to the three major credit bureaus, you still might face penalties:

• The card issuer could charge you a late fee, even if it’s your first late payment.
• The card issuer could increase the late fee if you wind up with another late payment within the next six billing cycles.
• The card issuer could raise the annual percentage rate (APR) for your account. This APR can be applied to future transactions if your account remains overdue.
• The card issuer could cancel your promotional APR.

A billing cycle usually lasts 30 days. When a payment is 30 days past the payment due date, card issuers may report it as delinquent to the credit bureaus. The delinquent payment would then show up on your credit reports. And that could impact your credit.

Typically, late payments are also reported to credit bureaus when they’re 60 days, 90 days, 120 days and 150 days overdue. The longer a payment is delinquent, the bigger the impact might be. Every situation is different, but here’s a rough idea of how things might proceed:

• A payment that’s at least 60 days late can trigger more late payment fees and penalties. 
• At 90-180 days late, you’re likely to hear more often and urgently from the card issuer. It might sell your debt to a collection agency or charge off the debt. A charge-off is when the issuer closes your account and writes it off as a financial loss. A card issuer might charge off your account at 90 days, but it’s federal law to charge off the overdue accounts at 180 days.

If you think the error originated with your credit card issuer, you can try working directly with them. And if a card issuer investigates and agrees there’s an error, it should notify the credit bureaus to correct the problem.

You may also be able to remove late payments from your credit report if they were reported in error. If you think a late payment was mistakenly reported, you can file a dispute with the credit bureau that issued the inaccurate credit report. If the dispute is investigated and ruled in your favor, the late payment will be removed from your credit report.

Making late payments to a credit card issuer can have short- and long-term consequences.

• You could be charged late fees. A credit card issuer can charge a late fee for missing just one credit card payment. The fee might go up if you miss subsequent payments.
• You could face interest charges. A creditor might charge interest on your unpaid balance until it receives your payment in full. 
• Your interest rate could go up. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), if you’re at least 60 days late on your payment, your card issuer might increase the interest rate on your balances. But not all issuers use a penalty APR with late payments. So it’s best to check your card agreement to learn more.
• Your credit scores might drop. It’s impossible to say exactly how a late payment will affect your credit. But payment history is an important scoring factor for two of the most popular scoring companies, FICO® and VantageScore®. FICO says it uses three criteria to judge late payments: severity, frequency and recency. That means a few things when it comes to its credit scores. A late payment can cause your credit score to drop more if your current score is excellent rather than at a lower point on the credit-scoring scale. Missing one payment after another can do more harm than missing only one payment. And late payments on several accounts can trigger more damage than late payments on just one account.
• Your account could be charged off. When a credit card account goes 180 days past due, the credit card issuer must close and charge off the account. This means the account is written off as a loss to the company. But the debt is still owed. How a charge-off could affect your credit or how other creditors may judge it can vary. But a charge-off will generally stay on your credit report for up to seven years.

Even the most careful credit card holder can miss a payment from time to time. But here are some ways to avoid paying late:

1. Check the due date. It’s a good idea to stay on top of the monthly due date for each credit card account. But if the current due date isn’t ideal, you can request a new one by reaching out to your card issuer. Keep in mind that card issuers aren’t required to let you change it. And if they do, they might limit you to the number of times you can do it per year.
2. Look into payment alerts. See whether your card issuer offers alerts reminding you when a payment is due. If those aren’t available, consider setting your own reminders on your calendar, phone or computer.
3. Consider automatic payments. Many card issuers give customers the option to set up automatic recurring payments. If you’re a Capital One cardholder, you can set up AutoPay to make credit card payments automatically. AutoPay gives you options to decide how much you pay, including the minimum payment, the last statement balance or a custom amount.
4. Reach out to your credit card issuer. If you know you’re going to be unable to make a payment on time, it might help to contact the card issuer directly. Card issuers work with people every day to make payment arrangements. They might have resources available to you.

Late payments can stay on your credit report for up to seven years. And if a late payment appears on your credit report, it can result in lower credit scores, making it harder to obtain credit with the best terms and rates. A late credit card payment can also lead to fees and penalties from the card issuer. 

If you’re having trouble making payments on time, consider changing your payment due date, setting up automatic payments or reminders, and talking to your issuer to see what other options might be available. And you can keep an eye on your credit by using a free tool like CreditWise from Capital One. It’s free, and using it won’t hurt your credit.