 TITLE: When Does a Late Payment Appear on My Credit Report? CONTENT: When Are Late Payments Reported?\n--------------------------------\nNow imagine you pay a bill after an entire billing cycle has lapsed, waiting until April 6 to make a payment that was due March 5. That means you're behind enough for the issuer to furnish that information to the credit reporting agencies. It's considered a 30-day late payment, and it will be noted on your credit report for up to seven years. Anyone who checks your report will see it and is free to form an opinion about it.\nMore important, a 30-day late payment will affect your credit scores. The two largest credit scoring companies—FICO® and VantageScore—rank payment history as the most important score factor, and thus a late payment will shave points from your score. The extent of the damage depends on the state of your entire credit history. If you have a long and strong pattern of using credit products responsibly—paying on time and keeping revolving debts low—a single late payment isn't likely to drop your scores drastically. On the other hand, if you have very little on your credit report, your scores will likely decline markedly.\nIf you continue to let billing cycles elapse, your credit scores will be harmed more severely. The later a payment is, the more alarming it is to creditors and the more dramatically your credit scores will sink. Severely late payments could be an indication that you're in financial trouble, and a signal to lenders that you pose a credit risk. END