DEFINITIONS

• Late Payments
• Charge Off
• Repossesion
• Judgement
• Closed Accounts
• Collection Agency/Collections

Late Payments
A payment delivered after its due date. Payments that are late by 30 days or more may be reported to credit reporting agencies and added to your credit report.

Charge Off
An instance in which a consumer is seriously delinquent in paying a bill and the creditor elects to transfer the account to an accounting category such as "charged to loss" or "bad debt." In such cases, the creditor may also turn the account over to a collection agency.

Repossesion
The act of a creditor regaining possession of an item sold to you.

Judgement
A determination by a court of law that, in the case of credit, may require a person to fulfill an obligation -- to pay a debt, for example. When a judgement has satisfied (i.e. the debt has been paid or settled), the consumer has fulfilled its requirements and is no longer liable. Information about judgements is recorded in the public records section of a credit report.

Closed Accounts
An account that has been closed by you or your creditor. Such accounts remain on your credit report for seven years from the date of last activity.

Collection Agency/Collections
A firm assigned by a creditor to collect overdue amounts. Some creditors have internal collection departments. Like creditors, collection aggencies report account information to consumer reporting agencies.