Does paying off missed credit card repayments remove them from my credit report?

No. Getting back up to date helps, but the missed months stay in your repayment history, and lenders will still see them when they look at your file.

Will a big bank approve me with missed credit card repayments?

Most mainstream banks aren't keen, especially if the misses are recent or a few months in a row. A single late payment with a clear explanation is sometimes workable, depending on the bank.

Can I still get a home loan with missed repayments?

Often, yes, through lenders with a higher tolerance for risk. You'll generally pay a higher interest rate, and you can look at moving to a mainstream bank once your record has been clean for a while.

How far back do lenders look at repayment history?

It varies by lender, generally anywhere from the last six months to the last two years. The more recent the missed repayments, the more they count against you.

Should I explain why I missed repayments?

Yes. If there's a genuine reason, put it on the application from the start. An explained one-off reads very differently to a missed repayment the bank finds on its own.

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Straight Answers · Bank said no

I've missed a couple of credit card repayments. If I pay them off, can I still get approved?

Bayley Clarke · Mortgage broker on the road · Last checked 11 November 2026 · 3 min read

The short answer

It depends how recent those missed repayments were, and how many you missed according to your credit report. One month, two in a row, three in a row: it all comes down to the severity.

Paying them off and getting back up to date matters, but it doesn't wipe the history. Missed repayments stay on your credit report and linger in the background, so the question becomes which lenders will look at your file as it stands today.

The 90 second version, filmed from the driver's seat. The rest of this page is the detail underneath it.

What the bank actually sees

Your credit report now shows your repayment history month by month, not just whether you've ever had a default. So when you miss a credit card repayment, the bank can see the month it happened, how far behind you got, and whether it happened again the month after.

Lenders generally look back over the most recent stretch of that history, anywhere from the last six months to the last two years depending on the bank. One late payment a while ago reads very differently to two or three months in a row recently, which is why the honest answer starts with 'how recent, and how many'.

Mainstream banks versus second tier lenders

Most mainstream banks aren't going to be too happy with missed credit card repayments, and they probably won't be too interested in your application. Some of the big banks treat being a month or more behind, or a couple of late payments in recent months, as an unsatisfactory history, full stop.

There are lenders that will look at missed card repayments and still approve a home loan, simply because their tolerance for risk is high enough to take you on. You generally pay for that with a higher interest rate, because it's usually a second tier lender. That's not forever, though. Plenty of people use that lender for a couple of years, keep a clean record, then move back to a mainstream bank once the history has aged.

When there's a story behind it

If something happened and there's a real reason you missed those repayments, sometimes we can get an exception to the rules. A one-off with a clear explanation and a clean record either side of it is a very different file to a pattern.

That explanation has to be on the application from the start, though. A bank finding a missed repayment on your credit report that nobody mentioned is a much harder conversation than one that was explained up front.

The honest bit: get it read before you apply

Applying to bank after bank to see who says yes leaves a trail of enquiries on top of the missed repayments, which makes the next application harder. The better move is someone cutting through the noise first: looking at your actual credit report, seeing exactly what's on it, and working out which banks are the best fit for where you're at today.

That's what I do. Sometimes the answer is a lender who'll take you now. Sometimes it's a few months of clean repayments before we go in.

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Next question

My credit score is low and I've got a few defaults. Should I see a credit repair specialist first, or can I still get a guarantor loan?

Don't book credit repair yet. Pull your credit report first.