The number one factor in your credit score is Payment History.  Paying all bills on time, each and every month, is the best way to build your credit rating over time and to get better credit scores. 

WHAT IS A LATE PAYMENT ON A CREDIT REPORT?
Typically, late payments of less than 30 days do not get reported to the credit bureaus.  When you miss the payment due date by a few days or even two weeks, there may be late fees involved, but those slightly-past-due payments are usually not reported on your credit file.
NOTE: A late payment by even one day can trigger the Universal Default Clause of your credit card agreement resulting in higher interest rates.
TIP: Contact the credit card company immediately and request a goodwill consideration of keeping your interest rate where it was and perhaps reversing the late fee, too.  Remind them that you have been a customer in good standing for however many years and that you had extenuating circumstances that caused the payment to be late.  When they agree, get it in writing.  At the very least, get the employee’s name and ID number, and write down the date and time you talked to them.

Late payments show up on credit reports as 30, 60 and 90+ days late.  A 60 day is more detrimental to scores than a 30 day, and a 90 day is worse than a 60 day, and so forth.  However, recent late payments that are reported have a more severe impact on credit ratings than do older ones.  So a 30 day late payment in the past three months could be hurting scores more than a 90 day payment five years ago.

WHO REPORTS LATE PAYMENTS?
Most national companies that you have a revolving or installment account with report account information monthly to the credit bureaus.  So missing a monthly payment on a mortgage, auto loan, major credit card, retail store account or line of credit will probably be reported.Additionally, cell phone, cable, and other utility companies that do not report directly to the credit bureaus may sell a delinquent account to a collection agency that does report.  So missing payments of any type can lead to a negative mark on your credit. 

COMMON ERRORS
It is estimated that 79% of credit reports contain errors.  Therefore it is important for everyone to check their own credit to make sure it is accurate.  You can do this at no cost to your wallet or your score; click here for more info.

Look for any late payments on any accounts.  You may want to highlight them as you identify them.  Then decide if you ever were late on that account.  If not, you are well within your consumer rights to dispute the validity of the late payment and the credit bureaus are supposed to investigate your dispute with the company reporting it.

Other errors that we see include late payments listed after the date the account was closed.  These can show up months or years later.   Sometimes late payments are reported when an automobile is traded in on a new one and the paperwork sometimes takes a while to catch up with both companies.  The same thing can happen on mortgage refinances, so be sure to check those, too.

Learning about your credit and becoming credit wise is a great way to improve your Personal Financial Fitness.  For further education, order your Credit Analysis today.