Are you as little as one day late to pay your debt? Bad news! The industry doesn’t care about your reasons. All it cares about is making sure you have no overdue payments, and it can penalize you for as little as $10 if you’re late.

If you planned on getting a more expensive loan further down the line or opening a new line of credit, then taking care of your credit score is crucial. The lower your score, the more difficult it will be for you to access these services. So it’s important to stay on your toes.

To help, we’ve prepared a list of 5 debts that can seriously affect your credit score. Stick around to the end to read up on 8 tips that will help, too!

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Medical Bills

Medical debt is considered by lenders as less detrimental than other types of debt. But does that mean you can be less careful about it?

Far from it! In fact, there are steps you can take to prevent a hit to your credit score. If payment is delayed you can avoid your bills getting marked as past due and sent to collectors by getting in touch with your doctor’s billing department. You may still get time to sort things out.

In a lot of cases, bills may be too high to pay all at once, so asking about a payment plan at this stage is crucial. This should help you tackle the debt little by little without fear of repercussion.