How is my credit score affected when I don’t pay my bills?

Credit reports are an indicator of how well someone pays their bills and how likely they are to pay in the future. The credit score represents what sort of a risk a consumer represents to a bank when making a determination about whether or not to grant that person new credit. Credit reports are based on a number of factors including the length of credit history, the number of accounts opened, the percentage of use of each of those accounts, and most importantly, is the payback history.

If all of your bills are paid on time every month, you’ll probably have better credit than someone whose bills are always late every single month. The law states that unless your bill is 30 days past due, you can’t have a negative report on your credit report. There are probably companies out there that “repair” credit, but you need a legitimate dispute that you can back up with evidence.