Does the length of time that my payment was overdue affect my credit score?

Missed payments will have a different impact on each person's credit scores depending on the situation. There are some rules which can help you determine the impact:

• A payment which is 90-days late can hurt a credit score more than a payment which is 30-days late
• Multiple missed payments will affect your score more than one missed payment
• A missed payment will have the biggest impact on your credit score when it's first reported. As time goes on, the impact to your score should decrease providing that you are maintaining your repayments across all credit accounts

A missed payment will be visible on your credit file for up to 6 years, and it can take several months to recover your score following a missed payment.

It's important to make your repayments on-time and make efforts to recover accounts that you have previously missed payments against. You should also speak to your lenders or a debt charity if you are struggling to make your repayments to look at what steps and advice could be put in place to support you.

If you hold lending products with Royal Bank of Scotland and you are struggling financially, you can find more information about the support available to you on our dedicated struggling financially page(opens in a new window).