 TITLE: How to Avoid Late Payments and Protect Your Credit CONTENT: How Do Late Payments Affect Your Credit Score?\n----------------------------------------------\nAfter you miss a complete billing cycle, a notation will appear on your credit report that a payment is 30 days late. Miss another and it will show as 60 days late, and so on.\nYour current credit profile will dictate the level of scoring damage late payments can have on your credit scores. In general, the higher your credit scores are now, the more your scores will drop after a late payment appears. If your credit scores are already on the low side, a late payment will still have an effect, but it won't be quite so dramatic.\nThe good news is that the impact of late payments on your credit scores typically decreases over time. And with plenty of positive activity afterward, a single late payment will have a diminished impact. Late payments stay on credit reports for seven years; once that time is up and the delinquency is no longer reported, your scores won't be impacted at all.\nTo better understand the effect your payment history has on your credit, get your free credit report and scores from Experian and review them carefully. You'll want to track the age of any late payments and know when they're due to be removed. If you believe a late payment is showing up in error, you may want to dispute it. Indicate the date the late payments should have been wiped clean from your report, and your file will be updated if the payment is found to be in error. END