A single missed payment dropped my credit score 100 points, ruining decades of hard work. What are my options to rebuild?

A Reddit user who had a 775 credit score made a big mistake. He accidentally missed a payment on one of his credit cards and he did not realize the error until he got the bill the next month. He made the payment immediately, including the late fee — but the real problem came when he checked his credit score. 

The credit card company had reported the late payment to the credit bureaus, and this sent his score down dramatically. In fact, it is below 650 now. The Reddit user is understandably upset because he is 50 years old and feels like he ruined decades of hard work earning good credit.

The big question is, what should he do now to try to fix the situation?

How to deal with a missed payment that ruins your credit score

It’s not a surprise that a missed payment caused a dramatic decline in the Redditor’s credit score. When you have great credit, a single mistake like this can be a major red flag that things are starting to go wrong in your finances.

Since you aren’t expected to be late when you have great credit, your score will decline much more dramatically after a missed payment compared with someone who already has a lower score. In other words, if he already had a 600 score, it might have only dropped a little because he was late, since creditors were already uncertain about him. 

The good news is, he does have some options available to him. The best thing he could do is to contact his credit card company ASAP. He can explain that it was an honest mistake, pay off the bill in full, including the late fees, and ask the credit card company to remove the record of the late payment as a gesture of goodwill.

It would be very unlikely that the credit card company would refuse to do this, as card companies want to keep good customers. If the Reddit user has always paid his bills on time in the past and is likely to continue doing so in the future, the card company should work with him. Even if he needs to make a few calls or send a letter or two before he gets his story in front of the right person, he should be able to fix the situation. 

What to do if you can’t remove a late payment

While it’s unlikely the card company will refuse to work with him, if that does happen, then the Redditor will just need to keep on being a responsible borrower going forward. Over time, the impact of the single late payment will start to fade as he pays his bills on time each month. If he has any debt, he can also pay it down aggressively to try to improve his credit utilization ratio, which is an important component of his credit score as well.

To make sure this kind of mistake never happens again, it’s also a good idea for the Redditor to set up automatic payments — at least for the minimum amount due. Setting up autopay and text alerts when a payment is due can help ensure that a simple mistake never leads to a missed payment and a damaged credit score again.