Credit Trap: Late Payments
Are you ready to make some real money moves?
In the credit game, there are a number of traps that will keep you from achieving a high score. Trap #1 is late payments. Your payment history has the biggest impact on your credit score.
Payment history is important--a late payment will remain on your credit score for 7 years. Thankfully, a late payment doesn't follow you forever. If you are careful, then your score can bounce back.
As your late payment gets older it starts to impact your score less. For example, a late payment today hurts your score more than a late payment from five years ago.
When it comes to boosting your credit score, the best thing you can do is to focus on making on-time payments starting today.