Continuing to keep a good credit rating can actually be more difficult in practice than in theory. In fact, there are many ways a good credit rating can receive a negative blemish- one ways is by being late with your payment. If your goal is to have an extremely high credit rating or score, here are few tips.
Avoid Being Late on Your Payment
One of the easiest pitfalls to fall into is being late on a payment. It doesn't even matter if it isn’t your fault. If your credit card company or lender does not receive their scheduled payment by the due date, they may and in many cases do report this infraction to the credit reporting bureaus. There are 3 credit bureaus that are ultimately responsible for putting together your credit report and calculating your credit score. They are Equifax, Trans Union and Experian. A late payment is seen as a negative on your credit report and in many cases can or will lower your credit score.
Three Degrees of Lateness
Usually there are three degrees of lateness. They consist of being over 30 days late, being over 60 days late and being 90 days late and over. Obviously the longer you are late with a payment the more it can affect your credit score. It should be noted that many consumers are late (usually 30 - 60 days) several times in a 5 year period. While it can affect your score to a degree, you shouldn’t lose sleep over it. Many times a bill can get lost in the mail, your payment might get lost in the mail or a payment might not have been processed effectively by your lending company.
Contest Late Payments
Payments late over 90 days should require your attention. If you feel a payment that was late over 90 days was not your fault, you should contact your credit card or loan company as well as the credit reporting bureau and contest it. While a 30 or 60 day lateness is usually do to an error in organization, a lateness over 90 days can signal to lenders that you are unable to pay a bill and might be a very high risk. If you were unable to pay the bill for 90 days then you will have to bite the bullet and receive a negative on your credit report. However, if you feel a mistake was made it is well worth your interest to fight it.
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