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Before You ApplyEducational mortgage-readiness preparation

Credit · 7 min read

Late or missed payments before a mortgage application

In short

A late or missed payment is recorded information, not a verdict. It does not decide anything by itself, and finding one does not mean your plans are over. The ICO explains that credit reference agencies hold information lenders use when assessing creditworthiness, and that you have data protection rights over that information, including the right to have inaccurate personal data corrected. How much weight any lender gives a particular entry is that lender's own policy, and no source we consulted publishes a threshold, a score effect or a recovery period. What you can do now is read your own files, check the entries are accurate, and be able to describe what happened in one factual sentence.

What this guide cannot tell you

  • Whether any lender will accept an application from you. We cannot know that and we do not guess.
  • How a particular lender will treat a particular entry on your credit files — that is each lender's own policy.
  • Whether you should apply now, wait, or do anything else about timing.
  • What we can do is help you understand what is recorded and organise it for a conversation with a suitably qualified FCA-authorised mortgage adviser.

Who this is for

  • Anyone who has missed a credit card, loan or utility payment
  • People who have spotted a marker on a credit file and do not know what it means
  • Applicants preparing to discuss their credit history with a qualified adviser

Different kinds of record, described plainly

These are descriptions of different types of entry, not a ranking. We do not say which matters more, how long any of them is kept, or what any lender does with them.

A late or missed payment marker

  • What it is: an entry on an account record showing a payment was not made when due.
  • Who holds it: the credit reference agency, reported by the firm you held the account with.
  • What to check: the account, the month, and whether the entry matches your own statements.

A default

  • What it is: a record that the firm treated the account as broken down rather than simply paid late.
  • Who holds it: the credit reference agency, reported by that firm.
  • What to check: the date recorded and the balance shown, and ask the agency how long the entry will be held — we do not state a period.

A county court judgment (CCJ)

  • What it is: a court decision about a debt, which is a different thing from a firm's own account record.
  • Who holds it: the court, and separately any register or agency that records judgments.
  • What to check: whether the details are correct, and ask the court and the agency what is recorded and for how long.

An arrangement with a creditor

  • What it is: an agreed change to how an account is paid, which may be recorded in its own way.
  • Who holds it: the firm you agreed it with, and the agency it reports to.
  • What to check: ask the firm and the agency exactly how the arrangement is being recorded.

Facts only. Nothing above ranks severity, states how long a record is kept, describes a waiting period, or says how any lender will read any of it.

Key points

It is data about you, held by an agency

The ICO's public credit guidance describes credit reference agency information as data used by lenders to assess creditworthiness. The record is a description of what happened on an account, not a decision about you.

Accuracy is a right you can exercise

If an entry is factually wrong, you can raise it. The ICO sets out data protection rights over credit information, including having inaccurate personal data corrected. Doing this early, rather than during an application, is the practical point.

There is no published threshold

No source we consulted states a number of late markers, an age of marker or a score at which anything changes. We will not supply one.

Three main agencies, and they can hold different records

The ICO's public credit guidance identifies Experian, Equifax and TransUnion as the three main UK credit reference agencies, and explains that lenders choose which agencies they report to. Checking more than one file gives you a broader picture of what is recorded about you — not the whole picture, because no single file is guaranteed to be complete.

Checking your own file is not the same as a lender's search

Obtaining your own credit information from an agency is you exercising your own data rights; it is not an application and it is not a lender searching you. You may see the terms "soft" and "hard" search used to describe the difference between a check that other firms cannot see on your file and one that is left visible to them. Those are industry descriptions rather than rules we can apply to your case: firms may record searches they carry out in different ways, and what a firm records at any particular stage — including at an agreement-in-principle stage — is something to ask that firm rather than assume. We do not claim every agreement in principle is recorded in the same way, and we do not tell you to avoid or seek out any type of search.

The affordability assessment is a separate exercise

MCOB 11.6 requires a lender to assess affordability on income and expenditure and to evidence the income relied on. Credit history is one input among others, not a substitute for that assessment.

A short factual explanation is worth writing

If you can describe in a sentence what happened and when, you are better prepared than someone reconstructing it under pressure. This is preparation, not persuasion.

Exceptions and things that vary

  • Not all missed payments are recorded in the same way, and arrangements with a creditor may be recorded differently again. Ask the creditor and the agency what is recorded.
  • A payment that was late through a bank or administrative error is still a factual question about the record. Raise it with the firm that reported it.
  • Nothing here says a late payment does, or does not, affect any particular application.

How to work through it

  1. Get your files from more than one agency

    Our suggestion: obtain your credit information from more than one of the main credit reference agencies — the ICO names Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — because they may hold different information.

  2. Read every entry, not just the flagged ones

    Our suggestion: check names, addresses, account statuses and dates. Errors of identity and address are as consequential as payment markers and are more easily fixed.

  3. Raise anything inaccurate now

    Our suggestion: if something is factually wrong, take it up with the credit reference agency and the firm that reported it, and keep a record of what you sent and when.

  4. Write one factual line per entry

    Our suggestion: for each entry you would be asked about, write a single accurate sentence — what the account was, what happened, when it was resolved. No justification needed.

  5. Ask an adviser what it means in your case

    Our suggestion: only a suitably qualified FCA-authorised mortgage adviser, working with your actual records, can discuss what your history means for your options. We cannot.

Illustrative example (not a real case)

Imagine someone who finds a late marker on a card they closed two years ago. They check the date against their own statements, find the entry is accurate, and write one line noting the month and that the balance was cleared: 'Store card, missed one payment in March, paid the following month, account closed later that year.' Nothing has been improved and no outcome has been influenced — but the fact is now known, checked and describable. Illustrative only.

Illustrative only. Figures and situations in examples are made up to show a method. They are not typical, not a benchmark and not a prediction of any outcome.

What not to assume

  • Do not assume a single entry determines anything. No source we cite says that.
  • Do not assume there is a score that lenders share. There is not one universal score, and a score is not a decision.
  • Do not assume an entry is accurate because it is on a file.
  • Do not assume an entry disappears on a date somebody told you. Ask the credit reference agency holding the record how long it will be held.
  • Do not assume checking your own credit information is recorded the same way as a firm's own search, or that any particular stage of an application is recorded in a particular way.
  • Do not assume anything on this page predicts a lending decision.

Your late-payment preparation note

For each entry you would be asked about, write three short factual lines. This is the whole framework — no explanation of why, no case for yourself, just the facts you can support from a record you hold.

  • When? The month and year the entry relates to.
  • What? Which account it was, and what the record actually says.
  • What happened next? Whether it was paid, closed, arranged differently, or is still open — as a fact, with a date.
  • Where you checked it: which credit reference agency file you read it on, and whether you have queried anything as inaccurate.

Keep it to one page. An adviser can work with facts; they cannot work with a half-remembered story, and we cannot tell you what any of it means for a decision.

Questions for a qualified adviser

We cannot answer these for you, and we do not introduce or recommend advisers. Take them to a suitably qualified FCA-authorised mortgage adviser of your own choosing.

  • Given what my credit files actually show, what would you want me to prepare?
  • Would you like a written note explaining any of these entries?
  • Is there anything on my files that you would suggest I check with the agency first?
  • How does my credit history interact with the evidence I can provide about income?
  • At what point in a process would a lender's own search normally be carried out, and how is that recorded?

Check my readiness

Eight broad preparation questions. No figures, no personal details, no eligibility result.

Check my readiness

Related reading

A resource that may help you organise the next step

Optional educational preparation resources. Nothing here is mortgage advice, a lender or product recommendation, an eligibility assessment or a prediction of whether an application would be accepted.

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Sources

No statistic, regulator citation or third-party claim is published until its source is verified. Unverified entries are shown as placeholders.

Written by

Before You Apply editorial

Written by the publisher's editorial function, not by a named individual and not by a mortgage adviser. Before You Apply is not FCA authorised.

Reviewed by

Independent reviewer — to be appointed

No independent reviewer has been appointed yet. No review, qualification, FCA status or endorsement is claimed for this content.

  • Last fact-checked 2026-08-30
  • Not yet independently reviewed
  • Next review due 2027-02-28

Disclosure: this guide is educational. Before You Apply receives no payment for mentioning any lender, product or firm, and none are named.

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