What happens if you miss a credit card payment?
A payment that's 1-29 days late usually triggers only a late fee (capped by the CARD Act, commonly up to around $30-$41) with no credit-score hit if it's a first-time miss and paid quickly. At 30-plus days late, issuers report the delinquency to all three credit bureaus, which can cost 60-100+ FICO points and stay on your report for up to seven years.
The timeline matters more than the fact of being late. Days 1-29: most issuers charge only a late fee and don't yet report anything to the bureaus — pay it as soon as you notice, and for a genuine first-time slip, calling the issuer to ask for a courtesy fee waiver often works. Day 30: this is the real cliff — issuers report accounts 30+ days past due to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, and a single 30-day late on an otherwise clean file is one of the more damaging single events a credit report can take. Day 60: under the CARD Act, an issuer can raise your APR to a penalty rate on that account after 60 days of missed payments, but only after giving you 45 days' advance notice. Beyond 90-120 days: the account risks going to collections and eventually a charge-off, which is separate and more severe than the late-payment mark itself. The fastest fix at any stage is paying the full past-due amount immediately — the situation only gets worse the longer it sits — and setting up autopay for at least the minimum payment is the standard way to make sure this never happens again.
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