Cell phone bill past due

[Noctilum]

So I was stupid and forgot to pay my cell phone bill on time.  I'm just turning 30 so I am blaming my old age

Any ways, what kind of impact should I expect to see on my credit report?  I was 7 days late. 

AT&T never contacted me about it, my service was never shut off, and I never received an alert that my autopay failed so I didn't think about it until I went to pay off my credit card and noticed the charge wasn't there.

[haulingthescoreup]

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@Corvidae wrote:

So I was stupid and forgot to pay my cell phone bill on time.  I'm just turning 30 so I am blaming my old age

Any ways, what kind of impact should I expect to see on my credit report?  I was 7 days late. 

AT&T never contacted me about it, my service was never shut off, and I never received an alert that my autopay failed so I didn't think about it until I went to pay off my credit card and noticed the charge wasn't there.

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Unless AT&T reported you to the credit bureaus (highly unlikely), there will be no impact on your credit.

Things like cell phone bills, cable service, doctor bills, etc. do not impact your credit unless you get so far behind that they turn you over to collections, and even then, it might not be reported if you immediately scramble and pay. These aren't credit accounts. They don't regularly report a credit limit and balance due every month.

One semi-exception: some utility companies do report when you go over 30 days, even without sending you to collections. That's not common, though.

Even if all that didn't count, you weren't 30 days late. In other words, your next statement will not show that you failed to make the minimum payment by the next due date.

For the sake of your 30+ year old brain cells, you might want to look at putting your cell phone bill on a CC. 

edit to point out that you do have more than 30 brain cells plus change. (This would be an error by someone way on the far side of 50. )

[Noctilum]

Well, that's good to know.  Thanks!

I had it on a credit card, but I forgot that I was using Virtual Account Numbers with my Citi card.  The number can only be charged once.  Not sure why I was stupid and put that on autopay haha.

[haulingthescoreup]

Autopay can be very useful, but it scares me witless. I do NOT do well with out of sight, out of mind!

[llecs]

Confession time....

I have some bills that don't report like utilities and cell phones, and on many occassions, I'll forget and pay and be as much as a month late. No I won't let it get so bad where they'd shut it off, then you'd have reconnection fees, the trouble of people reaching you, etc., but I'll pay every other month or every 6-8 weeks and I'll pay 2-3 months at a time...only to forget about it and be late again. If they ever decided to report, I'd have to live under a rock for the next 7 yrs.

[Anonymous]

They will not report unless your service is disconnected due to non-payment. Even then, they give you a chance to pay the bill. It is not until it reaches a collection agent that it gets reported.

[stan_the_man]

Many times with cell phones contracts and cable companies, you are actually paying for service for the upcoming month. Sometimes the bill is due before the month even begins, so even though you are late for the billing (and will likely have to pay a late charge, you are not techically late because they have yet to deliver the service.

I would imagine the reason that utilities are a lot quicker to report a late payment is because you are paying for service that was already delivered.

[Anonymous]

autopay is definitely scary, i never do it.  i once had a $600 cell bill that i eventually had completely waived even though it was still my fault, however had i paid it automatically, there would have been no refunds.

billpay is pretty cool and some checking and/or credit accounts have the feature for free.  i have it with my checking account, though for rewards purchases, usually just go to the websites separately and pay with my amex CC.  billpay isn't worth the fee if you have to pay for it.  put a bookmark folder at the top of your internet browser and call it "bills" and link every bill's website as a favorite to that folder.  about as close to autopay and/or billpay as you can get.