Credit Cards

[myhearts07]

1. Missing a Payment

It goes without saying that late payments hurt your credit. What many people don't realize is how much. "Being reported as delinquent in paying your bills is the biggest whammy for your score," says Craig Watts, a spokesman for Fair Isaac, the company that calculates FICO scores. A single late payment could sink you by as much as 100 points, especially if your credit history has been good up to that point. (FICO scores range between 300 and 850; anything 720 and above is considered good. For more credit score basics, read our story "Keeping Score.")

Ironically, good payers are punished the most. Consider this: A single late payment could drop a 749 score (with no prior late payments on file) by as much as 120 points, to anywhere between 629 and 679, according to Fair Isaac. But if you have a score of 573, with five out of seven accounts having been late or in collections in the past, another late payment won't cause as much hurt. Your score could drop 35 points at most, but could also remain the same. (For both scenarios, we used Fair Isaac's FICO Score Simulator, which is available free when you purchase your credit report and score from MyFico.com.)

The bad news: These days, some creditors will report a late payment even if you were only late by a day or two, says John Ulzheimer, president of Credit.com Educational Services. (Most report only if you're 30 or more days late.) To be safe, be sure to pay your bills well in advance, even if you use online bill pay.

[pastorrikk1]

Wow, that's insane going down 100 points for a single late pay. I think I'll stick to pif'd cards (cut into bits in a little bag) sitting on my desk.

[ariesdreamer]

That is true that even if you're one day late, they'll report it. That happened to me last month because I was one day late even though I paid the day after. The CC was one that I've had for 3 years and I about died when I forgot to pay it.

[Jamesus81801]

They can't report you as 30 days late if you're only a day or two late, it's reported as 30 days late, so how can they report it that way if you're not actually 30 days late?

[laryn41]

i have that same question.

[Lori344]

This is exactly why I use my bank's "scheduled bill pay" AND I pay each account a small amount 2x's per month. The closing date changes with a lot of my cc accounts.  

[phillippbo]

How can they do that?  I would venture a guess that they *technically* can't, but in practice they can do pretty much whatever they want until someone actually challenges it, or gets the courts involved to make a decision on language that's worded vaguely.

To combat something like that, if you've never been late before, you might just be able to sweet talk the lender into removing the late.  If you've been late a lot, or they just won't negotiate, there really isn't a whole lot you can do.  If you really were not late, or the paperwork from the lender indicates there's a grace period, you might be able to dispute as never late, but if you really were late, I would suggest not doing that.

[rbbyrbsn]

I don't know why people play around with this. aside from cash flow problems, there should never have  a late payment when you can give you compnay premission to debit your bank on due date.

for my credit cards , ones I carry a balance I setup autopay for the minium payment in case Ii forget or my payment gets held up, I'm covered, for cards I PIF I setup for statement balance , that payment is delay as long posiable, which means more interest from savings then paying 2-3 weeks early but to be sure to be on time.

I understand auto payment doesn't work for people who have constant cash flow problems. but that in itsels is a issue you need to deal with.   but I'm sick hearing people crying about 3rd party services like checkfree has technical problems and their rates get jack, when they can go direct to the source.

[Lori344]

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rbbyrbsn wrote:

I don't know why people play around with this. ...there should never have  a late payment

for my credit cards , ones I carry a balance I setup autopay for the minium payment in case Ii forget or my payment gets held up, I'm covered, for cards I PIF I setup for statement balance , that payment is delay as long posiable, which means more interest from savings then paying 2-3 weeks early but to be sure to be on time.

I understand auto payment doesn't work for people who have constant cash flow problems. but that in itsels is a issue you need to deal with.   but I'm sick hearing people crying about 3rd party services like checkfree has technical problems and their rates get jack, when they can go direct to the source.

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Exactly! If you care about your fico scores, late payments are not an option.

[jaguls66]

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rbbyrbsn wrote:

I understand auto payment doesn't work for people who have constant cash flow problems. but that in itsels is a issue you need to deal with.   but I'm sick hearing people crying about 3rd party services like checkfree has technical problems and their rates get jack, when they can go direct to the source.

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Well ain't you just perfect. If you are sick of hearing people discussing their cashflow/credit issues you are in the wrong place.

Since I am not perfect, as you apparently are, I made lots of mistakes, like getting laid off twice, medical problems, and such. Lazy irresponsible me.

I am currently working 2 full time jobs, plus all the side work I can get my hands on, and am still having cashflow problems, just trying to keep my head above water.

So, kindly take your supperior attitude and place it next to your head!!!!

Message Edited by jaguls66 on 08-06-2007 01:53 PM

Message Edited by jaguls66 on 08-06-2007 01:53 PM