 TITLE: How Long Do Charge-Offs Stay on Your Credit Report? CONTENT: How Much Does a Charge-Off Affect Your Credit Score?\n----------------------------------------------------\nAs with any other negative entry on your credit report, the number of credit score points a charge-off will cost you depends on the scoring system used (FICO® Score☉ or VantageScore®, for instance), what your score was before the entry appeared and how many other negative entries already appear on your credit report.\nThe appearance of a charge-off on your credit report might not actually lower your score by much, but only because you would have have acquired many other negative entries on the way to getting a charge-off. The charge-off itself is simply the cherry on top. Late and missed payments do more damage to your credit scores than any other single factor: The first payment that's 30 days late often has the most significant impact, and your score suffers more every month the bill remains unpaid. Since a charge-off typically appears after six consecutive months of score reductions due to missed payments, your score may be so degraded by then that there aren't a lot of points left to lose. END