So You Missed a Payment? We Can Help!

Sometimes life happens and you miss a payment. We’ve all been there before – it’s hard to adult all the time! Just in case you made a small error in your budget, or missed a payment, let us tell you how the process works:

Since you’re here, you’ve likely noticed that you’ve missed a payment. Like we said, life happens and we have all been there. The first thing you should do is check your online banking, if you’re set up for it. If you’re not set up for online banking yet, call the Contact Center at 1-800-232-3642. They will help you devise a plan to bring your loan balance current.

If you don’t call the Contact Center, you will receive a late notice in the mail when your payment is 16 or more days past due. Your monthly statement will also show that no payment has been made on the loan or card. If you think you may have missed a payment, but didn’t receive a letter or statement showing the missed payment, you should call the Contact Center at 1-800-232-3642 to check. You could also ask a Member Service Representative at your nearest Centra Location about the current state of your loan or card balance.

In the case that you have missed a payment, you will receive a late fee after 16 days. Don’t fret though, the late payment will not affect your credit score for 30 days. At Centra, we try to give you plenty of time to make your payment before we let it affect your credit score, which could take a while to reverse. Remember though, interest is calculated daily, so as your payment gets later and later, the amount you pay in interest will increase also. The best thing you can do when you realize you have missed a payment is get your account current as soon as possible. That means you pay the overdue balance as quickly as you can and try to catch up on the current payment before it becomes past due.

If you know ahead of time that you won’t be able to make a loan payment on time, Centra can help. If you have a payment coming up soon and you know you won’t be able to pay because of a unique circumstance, get in touch with us via the Contact Center or stop in to your nearest Centra location. We may be able to allow you to skip a payment for a small fee, or change the due date of the payment.

Missing a payment is not the end of the world, especially if you reach out to us right away to make a plan for payment. Remember, you can protect yourself from late payments by setting up bill payer to automatically pay your bills – you won’t even have to think about it!

Consider these options for preventing a late payment in the future:

• Create a budget for yourself so you don’t have to worry about whether you have the money to pay your bills.

• Set up Bill Payments in digital banking so you don’t ever have to worry about mailing a check.

• Add payment reminders to your calendar, or smart phone.

• Use Account Alerts to track where your money is going when.

If you have questions about how to use any of our helpful features, visit your nearest Centra location and a Centra Team Member will be happy to help!