How long do missed payments affect my credit score?

The amount of missed payments and the credit type of the commitment that was missed will have varying effects on your credit score.

For example, a single missed payment on a utility bill such as water or electricity that is brought up to date quickly is likely to only have a short-term impact on your credit score vs missing a payment on a loan or credit card account which could take several months to recover back to your previous score.

The most important thing to avoid is not having multiple missed payments on different commitments or credit accounts running more than one month in arrears, as this will have a more severe impact on your credit score which will take longer to recover.

This also sends out the message to lenders that you are struggling to maintain your current financial commitments.

The best way to not miss payments is to ensure that you have direct debits set up for all your commitments, and the best date to set them up for is the day after pay day, this will ensure that you have sufficient funds available, so no missed payments occur.

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