It’s difficult for many customers to pay their payments on time.
According to a recent NerdWallet survey, 37% of Americans had already experienced a late fee on a bill in the previous 12 months.
The most frequent charge, according to 21% of survey participants, was a late credit card fee. Others had been assessed 10% late fees for utility bills and 8% late fees for rent. Early in April, 2,061 persons in the US were surveyed by NerdWallet.
Sara Rathner, a travel and credit card expert at NerdWallet, said, “Late fees are just one consequence of making late payments.”
According to Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree, you can be charged a late fee as soon as you miss a loan or credit card payment deadline, but it usually doesn’t appear as a black mark on your credit report until 30 days after the fact.
Furthermore, specialists advise that things start to get more severe if you are more than 30 days behind schedule. Not making your payments on time might potentially have more serious repercussions, such energy services being cut off. Some repercussions, like car repossession, may also happen right away.
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“If you know that you’re going through a financial rough time, it’s definitely better to tackle it head-on and not wait,” Schulz stated.
In the event that a layoff or other unforeseen financial hardship affects your capacity to make payments, here are some tips for minimizing the impact of late penalties and negotiating with creditors.
Handle your creditors straight
The best course of action is to “speak directly to your creditors before you run into trouble,” according to Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com, if you are starting to fall behind on your regular monthly payments or anticipate doing so.
“That’s when you have the most options. The further behind you get, the fewer options exist,” he stated.
It can be beneficial to voice your problem as soon as you can. According to Schulz from LendingTree, if your bill is due on the last day of the month, get in touch with your servicer as soon as possible.
He added that you have more time to explain your issue and work out a compromise if you get in touch with them well in advance.
“Whenever you can go into one of these situations and offer up a solution … that can go a long way to making the conversation go a lot more smoothly,” Schulz stated.
