late utility bill

[lookingforadvice86]

i have a question that may sound stupid, but i am really curious. I ended up paying my utility bill late for the first time ever. It is 4 days late so they charged me a penalty of 6 bucks which is no big deal. my question is will this in any way affect my credit? I am currently just over 725 for equifax and really dont want one stupid mistake to mess it up. i read online that utility companies are not allowed to report a late payment to the credit bureau unless it is over 30 days late. not sure if its true or not. anyway just wanted to see if there is anyway this can negatively impact my score. thanks

[starry1]

Utilities generally do not report unless they charge off.

[dodfire]

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@starry1 wrote:

Utilities generally do not report unless they charge off.

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Correct....I would not worry about it.

[RobertEG]

The CRA credit reporting manual is very clear.

A late based on an account agreement does not become a reportable 30-late to a CRA until it has become more than 30-days past the billing due date.

You have 30 days after a delinquency occurs to bring the account back into good standing before it becomes reportable.

[jackg]

From personal experience I can tell you that utilities do report AFTER 30 days so you're good to go. I was hospitalized when it happened to me but I called & explained. They removed it the next month.