How come people have late payments?

[Kendro]

I'm not posting to sound condescending, I am genuinely curious.  I often see posts where people ask the OP if they have any negatives and some respond saying they have a 30 or 60 day late payment.  Is it because they don't want to make the minimum payments or do they genuinely forget?  Or did you pay on time but due to a system glitch the payment never got processed?

Thankfully 3 of my 4 credit cards all have their statements cut on the same day so I knock all 3 payments in one shot and my other card is pretty much in the sock drawer.  I haven't missed a payment in 8 years (though I did mess up quite a bit in college but thankfully all of those negatives fell off my reports).

Again, this isn't to sound condescending, my question is completely genuine.  I guess I'm worried that if anyone could have a late payment, it could also happen to me.

[payingoffdebt001]

There's probably many reasons...but lots of folks are on here re-building from past mistakes as you made as a college student.  All ages and reasons exist. 

It would be a good practice for everyone to verify a payment did go through by going online or via the automated phone system. 

[tcbofade]

...or they ran out of money before they ran out of month....

Don't laugh...it happens...

[emptypockets]

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@tcbofade wrote:

...or they ran out of money before they ran out of month....

Don't laugh...it happens...

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LOL - but seriously, some people are over extended from other household bills, i.e food, gas, etc. and they simply do not place a high priority on certain payments. With some accounts, as soon as you miss a payment, you incur late fees, etc. if you are already on the edge ( financially), the fees may really put things out of reach. With unemployment/underemployment, and the economy as it has been, sometimes you really cannot afford things that were no problem a year or two ago, because you financial circumstances have changed. For others, they may even have the money, but underestimate the effect the late payments will have on them down the line. I remember a friend of mine who owed the gas co. A bill (more than he could afford), so he made a payment arrangement, to pay a certain amount by a certain date. He proceeded to miss the first payment by a day or two, and was absolutely shocked when they cut off his gas service in the dead of winter.

[Anonymous]

I am in the rebuilding stage now, but my late payments are because I honestly missed a payment on my car note. Sounds silly and irrespondible but when you are pregnant, you can become very forgetful LOL!! Anyway, I missed a payment and sent the following months payment on time (still not realizing I was behind), before I knew it, there were a string of 31 -32 day late payments on my report.
Before that mishap, I financed 4 other cars with zero late payments so it happens.

I have enrolled in auto-pay since LOL!

[rootpooty]

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@Kendro wrote:

I'm not posting to sound condescending, I am genuinely curious.  I often see posts where people ask the OP if they have any negatives and some respond saying they have a 30 or 60 day late payment.  Is it because they don't want to make the minimum payments or do they genuinely forget?  Or did you pay on time but due to a system glitch the payment never got processed?

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i doubt paying a bill a few days late will cause a 30 day late to report cause tech its not 30 days late. it may result in apr increase but not a late to report. to anwer you main question, if someone had a really high balance say 10,000 and the min payment due was 200 and they couldnt make ends meet until the following month well that will result in a 30 day late.

[Anonymous]

I understand where you are coming from. I once had a late payment due to a system glitch but it was never reported. Otherwise I have never had a late payment. I can understand how people would though. Sometimes things get rough and one has to decide what gets paid...

[Mailak]

I once forgot to pay my Verizon phone-internet bill - maybe 5 years ago. I was kicking myself because I was quite careful in paying bills but I just forgot and didn't notice till I was billed double the amount the next month.

[Anonymous]

I have genuinely forgotten before and sometimes we have other worries. I've had a 90 day late payment before on a Household Bank card that I hadn't used for over a year and didn't realize until my son found out once he set me up with PageOnce. that PageOnce thing has been great, it tells you when your bills are due. That is if you know the bill exists and put it in there though! Some people have families, kids to worry about, just we forget sometimes.

[Mike360]

Well i have 4 30 day(s) late on my report and they date back like 4 years ago. I had problems at that time because i lost my job and i had other bills that were a priority over my credit cards. Unemployment benefits for me just weren't enough to pay everything. I've since learned to pay off all my CC's monthly and only carry balance on 0% stuff and not to over spend my budget.