A listener named Martin says a few months ago, I forgot to pay a credit card on time and now have a late payment on my credit report and see that my scores have dropped.

I'm really upset about it because I want to qualify for a home mortgage in the next year or two.

How long will my mistake affect my credit?

And is there anything I can do to improve it?

Thanks so much for your question, Martin.

I know seeing your credit scores drop can really hurt.

I'll answer your question by reviewing seven types of negative information that can

affect your credit and how long they remain on your credit reports.

Hey, everyone, and welcome back to episode 103 of Money Girl. This is Finance Friday, the show

where I answer your burning money questions each week. I'm Laura Adams, an award-winning author,

on-camera spokesperson, money speaker, and founder of The Money Stack. That's my substack newsletter.

I'd love for you to sign up. You can learn more about me and the Money Stack when you visit

Laura D. Adams.com. And that's also where you can send an email question

for Finance Friday. So let's start with a brief overview of the credit report. A credit history

or credit report is a file maintained by nationwide credit bureaus. So these include companies like Equifax,

Experian, and TransUnion. Now, they're not the only credit bureaus out there, but they are,

you know, the big three. Your credit reports with these companies contain data reported by

some or all of your creditors and certain legal information.

And your reports can be a little different because your creditors may not report data to all

three of them. You know, for instance, they may just report to Equifax. So the information in

your credit reports is used to generate various credit scores. There are many

different types of credit scores out there, and that helps creditors and merchants evaluate you.

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