What Happens If My Credit Card Payment Is Late?

6 min read

Last Updated: September 25, 2024

Table of contents

Key Takeaways

A late credit card payment could result in late fees, a penalty APR, and a negative impact on your credit score.
You can set up payment alerts to help you remember to pay by your due date.
Budgeting is a good way to ensure that you have the funds to cover your credit card payment.

When a credit card is past due, it means that you’ve failed to pay your card’s minimum payment amount by the due date. Late payments can come with certain consequences, including late fees, interest accrued on the credit card balance, and potential negative impacts to your credit score. However, there are numerous ways to avoid missing your due date in the first place, and things you can do if you’ve missed a monthly payment. Make sure you understand what happens when you miss a credit card payment and that you’re well-versed on how to use your credit card responsibly.

What happens when you miss a credit card payment?

When a credit card is past due, the potential penalties include a higher interest rate, late fees, and credit score impacts. Many credit scoring models sort late payments into various categories based on severity, frequency, and recentness. An extremely past due, severe, and recent missed payment often comes with especially serious consequences. Generally, a late payment from many years ago won’t hurt as much as the one reported as currently late, especially if you have excellent credit. That’s why it’s important to make sure you make at least the minimum payment on your card on time every month.

Late fee

You might see a late payment fee added to your credit card bill if you missed a payment. Credit card late fees can range in amount, so check your credit card agreement to learn how much a late payment will cost you.

Penalty APR

Credit cards come with either a fixed annual percentage rate (APR) or a variable APR. Either type can adjust to a higher interest rate if you miss a payment, though some cards don’t use a penalty APR. If your credit card issuer does increase your APR after a missed payment, it means that interest will accumulate on the revolving balance at a higher rate. This all depends on what terms are associated with your credit card, and not every lender will change your APR for paying late. Be sure to check your terms and conditions and make sure you understand the details.

Credit score impact

Your credit score may also be affected if your credit card account is past due. Your payment history is one crucial component of credit scores.

When your credit card issuers report late credit card payments to the credit bureaus, it can harm your overall score. Your credit score reflects your risk as a borrower. Therefore, a good credit score can be crucial if you want to apply for loans or credit cards in the future.

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If your due date has passed, still do your best to make the payment as soon as possible. Some cards provide a grace period before charging a late fee. Also, missing payments may appear on your credit report and could remain there for up to seven years. Your card’s terms and conditions outline the associated consequences of missing your due date—and they’ll vary for every card. You can always double-check this information if you’re ever unsure of late payment repercussions.

How to remove late payments from your credit report

Unless a late payment is inaccurate or an incorrect late payment, it is difficult to get a late payment removed from your credit report. If you see an incorrect late payment on your credit report, you should dispute it immediately with your credit provider and a credit reporting agency. A credit bureau typically has 30 days to review your dispute, and if they agree that the information is inaccurate, they’ll remove the late payment from your credit reports.

How to avoid missing payments

Know your due date

Your due date on a given card is usually the same every month. Knowing that date is the first step to avoiding missed payments. You can find your credit card’s due date on your statement. Alternatively, you can always log on to your issuer’s online account center and find your statement due date there.

Payment alerts

Most credit cards allow customers to opt in to receive text or email alerts for when the payment is due. Odds are you regularly check your phone and email, so you’ll at least know that a payment due date is coming up. Making the payment is still your responsibility.

Automated payments

Setting up automated payments for your credit card bill means never having to think about your due date. This option can help you avoid missing a payment—assuming the associated bank account has enough cash to cover the automatic payment.

Pulling automated payments from an account that can’t cover a payment can put you in a worse situation than where you started. Imagine: Your credit card is past due, and the bank charges you an overdraft fee. That’s why it’s important to ensure your bank account always has enough funds to cover your bill when using automated payments.

Did you know?

If you have a Discover^® Card, you can use the Discover DirectPay tool to set up automatic payments. With DirectPay, Discover will automatically withdraw any amount you specify monthly from your chosen bank account.

Focus on smart spending

Sometimes a missed credit card payment isn’t because you forgot the date—it could be due to struggles with paying that bill. An example is when a credit card bill and other expenses are due around the same date, but your paycheck comes afterward. In this case, you may be able to change your credit card due date.

Have you had some larger purchases come up? One tip is to only spend what you can afford to pay back each month to avoid building up credit card debt month-to-month.

A helpful place to start is deciding whether a budget can help you. Then, review your discretionary purchases (luxuries that you want) versus necessary costs (your basic needs). While this isn’t a fun task, be honest about essentials such as housing, transportation, and food compared to more discretionary items–streaming services or movie tickets, and take-out orders. Cutting back may not have to last forever–just until you get back on track and can pay back what you charge each month.

If you can’t figure out a solution yourself, try contacting your credit card customer service team to discuss it. They may be able to offer a payment program that can fit into your financial situation.

The bottom line

By knowing your credit card’s due date, arranging to make your payments on time every time, and knowing when to reach out to your credit card company, you can avoid the adverse effects of a late credit card payment.

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