What is worse overdraft fee or late payment?

[cjane1]

I finally got my husband to get onboard with me about paying bills on time. As of right now his vehicle will be late if he waits until he gets paid. He wants to pay the bill and get an overdraft fee. Sooner or later I would like to buy a house, car etc. Do the lenders look at all of the  late payments and overdraft fees or is it something they even ask for? If so which would look worse?

[totallymytravis]

If your car note is no later than 30 days that may be the best option. For example I would get slapped w/ a $6 late fee on my auto loan (which is now paid off if I paid past the 3rd of the month. As long as I paid before the 3rd of the following month for both months I would be fine bc I never slipped past that 30 days late mark- instead it was 28 or 29. I didn't make a habit out I it but sometimes you get in a mind. Overdrawing an account can cost you hundreds if another transaction hits your account. It can cause a chain reaction of cascading fees. So as long as you are not passing 30 days w/o payment on your car loan it should not show up on your CR.

[coterotie]

Here is another solution for you.  Ask the auto loan company for an extension.  Then pay when he gets paid, in essence you will be a month ahead all the time, even though you are paying it when you get paid.

As the above poster mentioned, the OD fee likely is larger than even the 10 day late fee.

Finally, sometimes, auto loan companies can change the due date to be more convenient.

[newhouse2013]

I asked my car lender to change my due date and they did no problem. Also, you need to be mindful that when you apply for a mortgage your bank statements will list accumulative NSF and some banks have the year to date NSF so you don't want that coming back to bite you.

[cjane1]

Thank you for all the suggestions. Now I now the best thing to do.

[RobertEG]

Also, remember that simply being late does not give rise to a reportable 30-day late to the CRAs.

While being a day late on payment will give rise to the creditor assessing penalties under the account agreement, lates do not become reportable until delinquency has extended 30 days past the billing due date.

You thus have a 30-day window wherein an account can be late under the account agreement, but does not rise to a reportable late.