Does a Late Payment Equal 7 Years of Bad Luck?
Posted on December 4, 2008
Filed Under Credit Repair, Credit Report |
If you have made a late payment on your bills, you may have heard that it takes 7 long years for it to be removed from your credit report. That much is indeed true. But how bad is a late payment, really? Will it totally damage your credit score for seven long years?
The answer is Yes and No. Let me explain. First of all, whether you have a 30, 60, 90, or 120 day late payment, it will take 7 years for this negative item to be removed from your credit report. That’s seven years from when it was originally reported. So, yes it will stick around for a long time. However, how badly does one late payment effect your credit score?
A 30 or 60 day late payment will only have a temporary impact on your credit score. In fact, 1 late 30 or 60 day late payment will have very little effect on your credit score. Obviously you want to avoid these at all costs; however, the good news it that if you have slipped up, you have a second chance. Lenders and credit card companies will still be willing to loan money to you if there is no other serious errors on your credit report; and as long as you dont make a habit of it.
The late payments that WILL have a serious negative impact on your credit score are those 90 days late and over. These bad guys will stick around for 7 years as well, but your score will also be seriously effected for that period of time (unlike the 30 day late payments). And unfortunately, if the 90 day late payment is legitimate; there is no way to have it removed from your credit report before the 7 years are up.
Overall, late payments can seriously affect your credit score; however, there is much more that is used to determine your credit worthiness than just late payments. To find out what you can do to improve your overall credit score; try our Free Credit Repair course.
