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An account generally becomes delinquent when you don't pay the minimum amount by the due date. Missing the due date may have some immediate repercussions, such as late payment fees, and letting the payment go 30 or more days past due could lead to a new late payment in your credit report.
What Is a Delinquent Account?
A delinquent account is an account that has a past-due balance. Your account could go delinquent when you miss a bill's due date. However, some creditors give you a grace period, which might give you an extra week or two to pay your bill.
Almost any type of bill or account can become delinquent, including credit cards, loans, property taxes and utility accounts. However, not all delinquent bills will be reported to the credit bureaus and appear on your credit report.
Creditors might charge you a late payment fee once your account is delinquent. They can also take other actions if you leave the bill past due for too long. For example, once you're at least 30 days past due, the creditor might report your late payment to the credit bureaus, which can hurt your credit scores.
If a lender determines that a borrower won't repay a delinquent account, they might charge off the debt and send or sell the account to collections. This typically happens after the borrower has gone multiple billing cycles without paying. At this point, the account may be considered defaulted rather than delinquent.
Learn more >> When Does Debt Become Delinquent?
How to Find Delinquencies in Your Credit Report
Delinquent accounts won't likely appear in your credit report until you're at least 30 days past due and the creditor tells the credit bureaus about the late payment. Keep an eye out for letters or notices from creditors, and try to bring the account current or make an arrangement with the creditor before this happens to avoid hurting your credit.
If you have a delinquency on your credit report, it will be part of the credit account's payment history. However, delinquencies could:
- Be separated from accounts that have never been late: Experian separates accounts that have been past due or are currently delinquent from accounts that have never been past due.
- Indicate how delinquent the account is or was: Late payments may be displayed in red and list a number representing how late the payment is or was (30, 60, 90, 120+ days past due).
- Stay in your credit report for up to seven years: Bringing an account current won't remove the previous late payments from your credit history. A single or sequence of late payments can stay in your report for up to seven years from the start of the sequence, also called the original delinquency date.
If a creditor sends or sells your account to collections, the original account may be closed, and a new collection account could be opened. The collection account may appear in a different section of your credit report. The original account and collection account should be removed within seven years from the original delinquency date.
Learn more >> Which Accounts Appear on Your Credit Report?
What Are the Potential Consequences of a Delinquency?
Missing a bill and having your account go delinquent could result in several negative consequences:
- Late payment fees: Unless your account has a grace period, creditors might charge you a late payment fee as soon as you miss the due date.
- Lost promotions or benefits: You might lose promotional interest rates if you miss a payment. Credit cards may also impose a higher penalty APR on delinquent accounts.
- Additional fees and interest: Creditors and debt collectors can continue charging you interest on the past-due debt, and they may be able to add additional collection fees or charges to your balance.
- Damaged credit: Late payments can hurt your credit, and falling further behind or having an account sent to collections might impact your credit scores even more.
Delinquencies in your credit report can also hurt your credit scores for years, which could make getting a new loan or credit card more difficult and expensive. You may also have trouble renting an apartment, pay more for insurance or have to pay security deposits on new utility accounts if you have delinquencies in your credit history.
What to Do if You Have Delinquent Accounts
Your options may depend on how delinquent your account is, the type of account and your financial situation. But the best approach is to try to remedy the situation right away. You could:
- Try to bring your account current. If you missed a payment by accident, bring the account current and see if the creditor will refund any late fees.
- Contact your lender. If you know you're going to miss an upcoming payment, contact your lender before the due date and let them know. They may have hardship options, such as a lower minimum payment or temporary deferment or forbearance, that can help keep your account from becoming delinquent.
- Look into debt consolidation. Consolidating multiple debts into a new loan could help lower your monthly payment and make it easier to manage your bills.
- Contact a credit counselor. A credit counselor may be able to review your finances to help you create a realistic budget. They may also be able to suggest other options, such as filing bankruptcy or using a counselor-run debt management plan to pay off unsecured debt.
If your account is in collections, you could try contacting the collection department or agency to see if there's an option for paying off the account over time or settling the debt for less than you owe.
How to Avoid Delinquencies on Your Credit Report
A little upfront work might help you avoid delinquencies and late fees, and help keep delinquent accounts from winding up in your credit report:
- Set alerts and reminders. You can set alerts on your credit cards and other accounts to remind you about upcoming due dates.
- Enroll in autopay. Setting up autopay can help you avoid accidental late payments, and some companies even offer an autopay discount as an added incentive. Adding alerts to your bank accounts can also help you keep track of your balance so you don't accidentally overdraw your account.
- Check your bills regularly. If you're not using autopay, choose a day and time to review bills to make sure you don't miss a due date. For example, you may decide to review bills every Sunday evening to see what bills are due that week.
- Build an emergency fund. Focus on setting aside savings for an emergency fund that you can use to pay bills during an unexpected setback.
You can also review your accounts to see which ones offer a grace period and what the consequences will be for missing a payment. For instance, some mortgages might offer a 15-day grace period—but check yours before assuming it does. You might want to prioritize other debts that don't have a grace period if you're certain you can pay your mortgage during the grace period.
Learn more >> How to Avoid Late Payments
Frequently Asked Questions
Late payments can stay in your credit file for up to seven years, even if the account is now current. If you had several late payments in a row, or your account was closed because it was past due, the entire series of late payments will be removed after seven years. Collection accounts in your credit report also get removed seven years after the original account—not the collection account—went delinquent.
The credit bureaus may automatically remove delinquencies from your credit report after seven years. If someone fraudulently opens an account in your name and the account goes delinquent, you have the right to dispute fraud-related items on your credit report and get them removed.
Monitor Your Credit for Delinquencies
Staying on top of your bills and looking for notifications or alerts from creditors can help you avoid accidentally missing bill payments. If you're worried about delinquencies in your credit report, you can use the free credit monitoring feature from Experian. Once you create your account, you'll receive real-time alerts when there are important changes in your credit file, including new delinquencies.