A plea from a credit repair specialist, protect your credit report and credit score

Victoria Coster of Credit Fix Solutions is a recognised expert in the credit repair industry and she has asked us to share that she is seeing an increase in conversations with people who don't understand the impact of missed repayments on their credit report.

Anecdotally in our office we can share that we have seen clients with unpaid defaults with higher credit scores than clients with a few late payments on credit facilities.

A payment is considered late if it is paid 6 or more days after the due date. Recent late payments are seen in a very negative light by any lender.

Victoria says:

• You need to pay for your loans ON TIME. If you're going to be late, it's essential to contact your credit providers and makes sure that formal assistance is in place.

• If you are late, and it's not the bank or lenders' fault then the late payments will go onto your report and have a negative impact on your score. This will affect you for 24 months!!

• You need to be aware of what enquiring does. EVEN IF you don't go through to settlement, the enquiry is a HARD HIT on your credit report. Just 1 enquiry can lose you up to 50 points!!!! And these cannot be removed unless they are fraudulent and it CAN take a few months for the credit score to fix itself.

*This is not financial advice. If you are in hardship, you need to contact the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007. For informational purposes only.

She is spot on and we're glad to be able to share this information so we all understand the impact of late payments. We totally get things how difficult things are right now with high cost of living and interest rates - so communication is the key.

Victoria also stresses that late repayment history is often unable to be removed in the way that sometimes defaults can be, so it stays with you for 2 years.