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What Happens If You Don’t Pay a Credit Card?

4 min read

Last Updated: May 7, 2025

Table of contents

Key Takeaways

A late credit card payment can result in a late fee and affect your credit score.
If you’re facing financial hardship, you can contact your credit card issuer to discuss payment options.
If you miss multiple payments in a row, your credit card company may report your account to the credit bureaus and/or transfer you to a collection agency.

Not paying a credit card bill can have a serious impact on your credit score, which might make it difficult to secure future lines of credit. There are some avoidable scenarios if you can continue to make your credit card bills on-time. If you miss one or more payments, the outcomes will vary depending on how late your payment is and your credit card company’s terms and conditions.

1. You missed one credit card payment

Perhaps you lost a credit card statement or simply forgot to send your payment. Depending on your credit card issuer’s terms and conditions, they may charge you a late fee if you don’t pay your credit card bill on time or at least pay the minimum payment due. If you miss a payment, it’s important to pay as soon as possible.

What happens when you pay what you owe or make payment arrangements before a full billing cycle passes? The missed payment may not show up on your credit report or be reported to the credit bureaus.

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2. You haven’t paid your credit card for 60 days

If you haven’t paid your credit card bill for two months, your credit card issuer might contact you about your credit card balance. They may charge a late fee as well. After your account is more than 30 days past due, the credit card issuer may also report your account to credit reporting agencies, which may affect your credit score.

A good credit score can make it easier to apply for housing because your landlord can expect their rent payments on time. A high credit score could also help you get favorable interest rates on personal or auto loan because you aren’t at high risk for defaulting on your debt.

If you haven’t paid your credit card for more than 60 days, your credit card company may charge you an interest rate penalty. This means your APR could go up. Note that how much your APR might increase will vary by issuer. Try to catch up on the outstanding payments as quickly as you can, but if you can’t cover the outstanding amount, contact your credit card issuer.

3. What happens if you don’t pay your credit card for 6 months?

If you fail to pay your credit card for more than 180 days, more serious consequences could occur. This is on top of the late fee and the impact to your credit score.

At any point throughout the six months, depending on the credit card issuer’s terms, they may report an account as delinquent to credit bureaus. Some credit card companies may try to collect from you directly, but some may send your account to a debt collection agency to work on the creditor’s behalf.

Did you know?

If your credit has been damaged by missing payments, you may be able to rebuild your credit history¹ using a secured credit card from Discover.

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4. Your account is overdue and sent to a collection agency

If the credit issuer transfers the debt to a collection agency (though this is not always what happens), the debt collector may contact you for payment. If they’re unable to reach you or resolve the debt, the next step may be to take legal action to collect payment. Finally, all delinquencies may stay on your credit report for up to seven years.

How to avoid missing payments

There are some things you can do to avoid missing a monthly payment.

Cut your expenses. Any time you can remove unnecessary expenses it can help free up funds to pay off your debt. Common places to cut include removing streaming services you don’t use, eating more meals at home, use a shopping list to avoid impulse purchases, and buy generic brands.

Use autopay for recurring bills. With autopay, your credit card company makes an automatic payment from your bank account to pay your credit card on the due date. Discover allows cardmembers to set up DirectPay, which withdraws monthly credit card payments from a designated bank account automatically.

Set up alerts. Depending on your preference, you can set different types of alerts to remind you to pay your monthly bills. You can create alarms or reminders on your phone, keep notes in your online calendar, or even simply write reminders in a paper planner.

If you have a Discover Card, log in to your account and go to the “view and configure your account activity alerts” section. From there you can switch alert notifications on/off and choose to receive the alerts via text, email, or both.

The bottom line

Missed credit card payments can lead to unintended consequences. Knowing what could happen can help you be more proactive in your debt management. Prioritizing your financial wellness, including credit card management, may help you avoid some common mistakes that could impact your future.

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