How Will a Late Payment Affect Your Credit Score?

When it comes to your bills, there’s one thing you always need to do: make payments on time.

Although it’s easy for life to get in the way, you must have a schedule in place to prevent late payments.

One late payment is bad enough. However, if you turn this into a habit, things can get really bad for you in no time at all.

A late payment will impact you in many ways, starting with your credit score. In the event that your payment is more than 30 days late, all three credit bureaus will be notified. Subsequently, it will show up on your credit report, thus having a negative impact on your score.

As if that’s not bad enough, there are several other ways a late payment can affect you:

•    A late fee. Do you really want to pay a fee on top of your balance? Even if you are one day late, it could result in a late fee. The amount depends on many factors, such as how late you are as well as the terms and conditions of your contract.
•    Increased interest rate. Did you know that a late credit card payment could result in an increase in your interest rate? This doesn’t always happen, but it’s something you should be concerned with. If you don’t know if your credit card has a “penalty APR,” now’s the time to learn more.

There’s no denying the fact that things can and will come up that make it difficult to pay your bills on time. Even so, you don’t want to go down this path.

Making even one late payment can affect you in many ways. Rather than take this risk, make sure you do whatever you can to avoid trouble.

What type of system do you rely on to ensure that you never make a late payment? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.