Accidentally paid my credit card late.. what to do?

Question

I accidently missed my credit card payment by one day, and now I've noticed that my monthly minimum has gone up (alot too). I know this is bad for your credit, really bad. So what should I do, should I cancel this card? How long will that late payment be on my credit history? And also is it going to affect me THAT much? I've read mixed answers so I turn to you fine folks.

Answer 1

Good news! This will NOT be on your credit.

You have to be 30 days late in order for it to be on your credit report as late. yay for that!!

Second, your minimum went up, probably for two reasons:

1) They want you to shell over the $35 late fee right now.
2) They upped your APR to the default rate.

The good thing is the payment will go back down once you pay that $35 late fee, with the exception of that the default APR may stay higher for 6+ months of paying on time again.

So if you normally have a $35 payment and now its $70, its becuase half that is a one-time late fee.

Answer 2

If this is your first offense, call the card company and explain your error and ask them to cut you some slack this one time - especially if you've been a long time customer.

Don't cancel the card - that'll be a bigger black mark on your credit history than one late payment. (One late payment isn't the end of the world - six or ten or twenty is a problem!)

Answer 3

Try calling the customer service department and asking them to reverse the decision. If you've never been late before, they might be willing to refund the late charge (or you can volunteer to pay it) and reinstate your old rate. The worst they can say is no and you can start using a card with a lower rate.

Answer 4

Call and tell them that you sent it in late. If you're always on time ask if they can waive the late fee for this month and pay it on time in the future.