Does an isolated one-off missed payment affect your credit score?

hampshireman_2

Hi everyone, I'm a MSE newbie because I've been after some info for awhile now that I can't really get to the bottom of and that hopefully somebody here might have. Ok, as the title says, does an isolated one-off missed payment to a credit card affect an individuals credit score? A year ago this month, I was 2 years into paying off a 3 year 0% apr credit card deal to consolidate a debt from another credit card running at 19% apr. For reasons I cannot recall, one online payment didn't go through (I was paying it manually, not by direct debit) and it wasn't until I started getting text alerts from the credit card company saying that they hadn't received my payment, that I realised something was wrong. After speaking to customer services of the credit card company and sorting out the problem, they were good enough to reinstate the 0% apr rate and that was it, I carried on paying monthly manually, I had no further problems and I finished paying the debt this month. Does anyone know if that isolated one-off incident would affect my previously clean credit score? And if so, would it be just classed as a minor transgression? And as a year has lapsed since the incident, has the effect of it now faded away? Is there, in fact, any time limit on an isolated incident like mine before it is ignored or do I have to "prove" myself to credit reference agencies to build my score back up again, assuming that it HAS been affected? Also, is it worth closing what is now effectively an "empty" credit card (outstanding balance is zero, 0% apr deal is now finished) or is it worth keeping it, for the sake of proving I'm a good credit risk? Sorry for the ramble but any thoughts would be gratefully appreciated.

[Deleted User]

Ignore the score. It may go up, down, or even to the shops and back but that's fine.

A single missed payment isn't the end of the world, but will be viewed in conjunction with everything else on your report. But don't make a habit of it.

It would be worth keeping at least two cards running, as one of them will fail to work when you need it most at some point.

PaulW922

Assuming you brought the account up to date quickly, the missed payment may not even show - you need to check your file to be sure. If you do have a 'one payment missed' mark, that is not a massive transgression anyway - after a few months it will probably have a minimal impact as long as nothing else appears. Keeping your card account open and using it each month (even just small transactions) will result in lots of nice green marks on your file which is good

The score from Experian and Equifax is only their assessment of your credit situation and not something lenders know about or even see. I don't think it is quite the useless made up number some people suggest, but you should treat as as simply a guide for you and nothing else.