Just found out how much late payments actually drop your score, and it's wild

I was digging through my credit report yesterday (not something I do for fun, but here we are) and stumbled onto a stat that made me double check: a single 30-day late payment can drop your FICO score by up to 100 points if you're sitting in the 700s. That's not from some random blog either, it was on the official FICO site under their score impact page. I had no idea it was that brutal, especially since one slip on a $40 utility bill triggered it for me last March. My score went from 712 to 634 in about 45 days, and now I'm stuck with higher interest offers on a car loan I need this summer. Has anyone else seen a drop that steep from a tiny missed payment, or did I just get the worst case scenario?

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adam18612d ago

That 100 point swing from a $40 utility bill is insane. I had a similar thing happen with a forgotten gym membership, $28, and my score took a 90 point hit, went from 768 down to 678. It took me almost two years of on time payments to get back to where I was, felt like I was renting my credit score back from the bank.