Various factors affect your credit score in Florida, including the length of your credit history, payment history, and how much you owe creditors. You may wonder if child support will affect your credit score. Here are a few things you should know.
When child support affects credit
Child support will affect your credit score if you make payments late. And they can affect your report for up to seven years. Since credit bureaus look at the debt-to-income ratio, paying child support may make getting loan approval difficult. When you don’t pay child support as agreed on with your child’s other parent or as ordered by the court, consequences can include wage garnishment, passport suspension, driver’s license suspension, liens and contempt of court.
Creditors should automatically update a child support account after you have paid it off. However, some people have had to wait a few months for their credit report to reflect this. You may have to dispute the information if your child support account shows that you have a past-due balance but have already paid it. Other situations that may call for disputing a credit report include identity theft, outdated information, duplicate accounts or incorrect information.
Public records and child support
The state you live in will determine if child support records are public. The public can see temporary and final child custody agreements in some states. Some places make exceptions when confidentiality is necessary, like adoption cases. In other states, all child support information is confidential and can only be seen by the two parties involved.
Staying up-to-date on child payments is the best way not to have them negatively affect your credit report. Automatic payment reminders may help you keep your accounts in the best shape possible.