Late payments: Inability to pay vs Ignorance?

[Anonymous]

I think BBS is using ignorance as a big umbrella to cover pretty much everything BUT the inability to pay.

A really common instance that fits under this umbrella is "forgetting."  A person may have many cards, and somehow there was a small charge he forgot about, and he missed any reminder from the issuer.  He knows in principle that bills have to be paid, he may know very well that a Day 30 late could hurt his score.  It's just a combination of bad memory and bad luck that the missed payment slipped through.

A good example is one of our moderators (Revelate).  I think it was a Walmart card that somehow slipped though the cracks (18 months ago maybe).  It made him really kick himself because he had worked to get all his reports clean. 

On my own list of things to do is to go back through every one of my cards and make certain that autopay for at least the minimum payment is set up, along with aggressive alerts set up to notify me about almost any transactions or payments due.  (If it is a card I use all the time I'll make the alerts far less aggressive).  I think I have done that already, but I need to double check.

[Anonymous]

We should be learning about using credit in school, it's absurd that we don't. Like many things in life we learn some things the easy way and some things the hard way.

Years ago I had a cc that was a generic blue. I rarely used it, in fact I *thought* that was what I was supposed to do, never use it.

I also had a debit card that was generic blue.

At one point I swiped the cc instead of the debit without it really registering. I had my mail going to a po box and had no idea I had a 60 day late. Payed it off as soon as I found out about it.

[kuku4koco]

Just recently, was 6 days late on a CC due to hospitalization.  Based on the circumstances, yes I 'forgot'... thankfully, I recovered and my memory kicked in....  (before a 30 day late could surface).  Since then, have set to 'Auto Pay' for the minimum amount due on all accounts.  Sometimes, things are really just out of our control.  Better to prepare for the avoidable.  A $27 late fee, Ouch!! It could have been worse.

[AppHappyTog]

I’ve fallen into both categories.

When I was 19 or so and purchased my first car I had some late payments just due to plain ol ignorance. I was never educated about credit and didn’t even consider what happens when/if I were to pay a bill late. Purchased my first house right before my 21st birthday and I was a frequent flier of paying on the 30th day because I was dumb and didn’t  realize the effects (seriously... so dumb)

Then after my divorce I fell into the category of being unable to pay: my mortgage at one point in time, especially. But I scrambled my ish together and figured it out for the most part. Still suffering for one of those but it officially falls off next year. 

Overall I’ve learned some hard lessons, some later than I should’ve but I’d rather eat ramen at this point than not pay bills I owe, if it ever came to that. 

[Anonymous]

Great replies and contributions above, everyone.  Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Before the invention of autopay (or before I discovered it) I was late all the time, I once didn't pay my home owner's association fee for 2 years while having 6 figures sitting in a checking account earning absolutely 0 interest for years, paid my cable bills quarterly when I get the final notice to disconnect, my mail box would be so full at times that they would leave notes on my door to pickup the rest of the mail at the Post Office...good old times.

Good thing I didn't use CCs during that time and always pay my Mortgage on time (came close a couple times) so I didn't do too much damage to my credit, could have saved a lot of money in late fees though.