 TITLE: Can Automatic Bill Payments Help My Credit Score? CONTENT: How Automatic Bill Pay Can Help Your Credit\n-------------------------------------------\nBecause payment history is the most important part of your credit scores—accounting for 35% of your FICO® Score☉ —making sure you don't miss any payments is key to maintaining a good score. Once you miss a payment, a record of that delinquency may be sent to one or more of the three major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax), and the record will remain in your credit file for seven years.\nSetting up automatic bill payments is easy and can help you avoid missing any payments. Autopay works like this: You give your creditor your bank account information, and when your payment is due, they'll withdraw the proper amount directly from your account. Depending on the type of bill, you may also be able to use a credit card to pay. Alternatively, automatic bill payments can be set up through your bank account. For recurring bills of the same amount, you can schedule payments to be sent by most banks automatically.\nWhile potentially bad for your credit, missing a bill payment might also cause you to incur expensive late fees. Credit card issuers often charge cardholders a late fee for missed or late payments. And be careful—you could be charged these late fees for each month you don't pay. If you catch this in time, you may be able to negotiate to have the fee waived when you pay, but being proactive and having your bills automatically paid is a better solution if you tend to miss payments. END