late payment

Most people understand that a bankruptcy or foreclosure will tank their credit score, but there are plenty of small mistakes you can make that will turn a good score into a mediocre one. Here are seven of the more common errors, plus tips on how to avoid them.

The American consumer's financial health is showing signs of improvement, but the weak job market continues to derail the nation's economic recovery -- particularly for people in the lower income brackets, according to September's Consumer Reports Index, released on Tuesday.

Citigroup announced Monday its new no-fee, no-penalty Simplicity credit card, designed for the very creditworthy person who might once in a while forget to make a payment on time. No gotchas in your credit card bill sounds like a great idea, right? Well ... maybe.

Bank of America credit card holders, beware. If you're late on a monthly payment, that little "oops" might become a big "ouch": Your future balances could be subject to a penalty rate of nearly 30%. But the penalty rate will not be applied to previous balances.

I've long been a fan of automating your finances. There's a bit of freedom and a sense of accomplishment that comes from knowing you'll never have to pay a late fee again. Unfortunately, if you don't pay attention this can come back to bite you in more ways than one. Starting several months ago...

Ever since graduation we have had a credit card through Citibank which has unfortunately carried a balance. We've been good about paying more than the minimum and making our payments on time but this last month I missed the due date by roughly 2 hours since I was out of town. While you might view...