Delinquent

Delinquent summary:

• A delinquent account has at least one payment that's overdue.

• You may be charged a late fee or other penalty for a delinquent account.

• Delinquencies, if reported to credit bureaus, will damage your credit score.

Delinquent Definition and Meaning

A debt or account becomes delinquent when you fail to make your payment by its due date. That means your creditor must receive payment by 5 p.m. on the day it's due (in the time zone stated on the billing statement), or the next business day if the due date is a Sunday or holiday.

Comprehensive Breakdown of Delinquent

When you accept a loan, you commit to making payments on a preset schedule. Similarly, when you charge expenses on a credit card, you're given a due date to make your minimum monthly payment. Miss that date and your account becomes delinquent. What happens next depends on the terms of your account. 

Delinquent accounts 30 or more days past due are usually reported to the three major credit bureaus, and every delinquency on your credit report causes a drop in your credit score, making it harder to borrow in the future. People with higher scores see greater damage than those with lower scores. If your account continues to be unpaid, the situation worsens—the credit damage from being 60, 90 or more days late is increasingly worse. A delinquency can stay on your credit report for up to seven years.

In addition, you could be subject to additional penalties, such as a sharp "penalty" interest rate increase on your credit card. Or, your lender or credit card issuer might send your account to collections. You may be contacted repeatedly by debt collectors whose job is to recoup the money you owe. 

Eventually, if your account remains unpaid or unresolved, you could go from being delinquent to being in default. For example, if you go more than 180 days without paying your credit card account,  your account will likely be placed in default, which means you could face more severe consequences, like a lawsuit. 

Example of Delinquent

Imagine you have a personal loan payment of $800 due on the first of every month, but you forget to send it in. On the second of the month, then, your account is technically delinquent. It's past due. You might be charged a late fee, depending on your loan agreement. Or you might have a grace period in which you can pay a few days late without penalty.

Your lender probably won't flag your account as delinquent if you send your payment in a few days late. And your account won't be reported as delinquent to credit bureaus. Creditors cannot legally report you as delinquent until your payment is at least 30 days past due.