Quick summary

DetailValue
Grace period (interest)~25 days after statement (purchases only)
Late feeUp to $41
Penalty APRUp to 29.99% (varies by account)
Credit reportingSays it reports[1]
Account restrictionTypically 30–60 days past due (industry-typical timing; not a figure Bank of America's cardmember agreements publish)
Account closure / charge-offTypically ~180 days past due (standard credit-card charge-off timing industry-wide; not a figure Bank of America's cardmember agreements publish)
Source checkedSeptember 2026

How Bank of America credit card billing works

Bank of America issues a wide range of consumer credit cards (Cash Rewards, Travel Rewards, Premium Rewards, BankAmericard, Customized Cash, and various co-brand cards). All BoA consumer credit cards follow the same general non-payment rules.

  • Statement date: Generated monthly with minimum payment and balance details
  • Due date: Typically ~25 days after the statement date (grace period for new purchases, if you pay the full statement balance)
  • Minimum payment: Required by the due date to avoid a late fee. A payment that falls 30 or more days behind can also be reported to the credit bureaus as late (see Credit reporting below)

Source: Bank of America's Find Sample Credit Card Agreements page, an index of per-product sample agreements[2]

Late fees

Bank of America's sample cardmember agreement lists a late fee of up to $41, assessed "if the Total Minimum Payment Due shown on your monthly statement is not received by us on or before its Payment Due Date." A higher amount applies if a late fee was assessed in any of the prior six billing cycles, and "If your balance is $100 or less on the Payment Due Date, we will not assess a Late Fee."[1]

The exact fees are disclosed on your cardmember agreement and your monthly statement.

Penalty APR

If your account becomes seriously past due, Bank of America may apply a penalty APR to your existing balance. The penalty APR can be up to 29.99% and remains in effect for at least 6 months of on-time payments before BoA reviews it.

Credit reporting

What Bank of America says: Bank of America's cardmember agreement says: "We report account information to Consumer Reporting Agencies, which means the account will appear on your consumer report."[1]

The agreement doesn't give a day-by-day schedule. The usual pattern comes from two things explained below: the bureaus' payment-status codes start at 30 days late and step up in 30-day increments,[3] and the federal bank charge-off policy, which covers banks and thrifts, expects an open-end account such as a credit card to be charged off once it is 180 days past due.[4]

What federal law actually sets

Reporting to the credit bureaus is optional. The CFPB puts it plainly: "Reporting to credit bureaus and other consumer reporting agencies by creditors is voluntary and historically has been. Not all creditors report information about their borrowers."[5]: p. 15 The Fair Credit Reporting Act's rules for the companies that do report cover accuracy, disputes and dates. They don't set a minimum number of days late before an account can be reported.[6]: (a)

The "30 days late" figure you see everywhere comes from the data format, not from a law. Most furnishers send data to the bureaus in Metro 2, which reports "the level of delinquency such as 30-59 days past due, 60-89 days past due, and up to 180 days or more past due."[5]: pp. 3, 16 Experian's list of payment-status codes has no code for anything less than 30 days late: the late codes start at "Account 30 days past due date" and go up in 30-day steps to 180.[3] So a payment 10 or 20 days late has no late code to be reported under, though a late fee can still apply.

A third-party debt collector can't report a debt until it has either spoken to you about it in person or by phone, or mailed or electronically sent you a message about it and waited "a reasonable period of time to receive a notice of undeliverability."[7]: (a)(1)

Charge-off

A charge-off is the lender writing the balance off its books as a loss. It isn't the lender giving up: the federal bank policy that sets charge-off timing says the write-off "does not mean that the asset has absolutely no recovery or salvage value."[4] That policy also sets the timing, for banks and thrifts only: "Closed-end retail loans that become past due 120 cumulative days and open-end retail loans that become past due 180 cumulative days from the contractual due date should be classified loss and charged off." Closed-end means a loan with a fixed schedule, such as an installment loan; open-end means a revolving line, such as a credit card. Credit unions are outside it. Their regulator, the NCUA, "does not plan to adopt the Uniform Policy at this time."[8] It doesn't apply to phone, cable, streaming, insurance or utility companies either, because none of them is a bank. When one of those companies writes off a balance, the timing is its own.

How long it can stay on a report

For an account placed for collection or charged off, the Fair Credit Reporting Act's seven-year limit doesn't start on the day you fell behind. It starts 180 days later: the seven years begin "upon the expiration of the 180-day period beginning on the date of the commencement of the delinquency which immediately preceded the collection activity, charge to profit and loss, or similar action."[9]: (c)(1) That makes it about seven and a half years from the first missed payment. Paying the balance later doesn't restart or shorten that clock. Whoever reports a collection or charge-off must also tell the bureau "the month and year of the commencement of the delinquency", within 90 days of reporting it, and a collector who later reports the same account complies by reporting "the same date of delinquency as that provided by the creditor".[6]: (a)(5) A late payment that never goes to collection or charge-off falls under a separate catch-all, "any other adverse item of information", which also runs seven years but names no start date.[9]: (a)(5)

Direct reporting vs. collections

A company can report an account it still owns, or it can hand or sell the account to a collection agency, which then reports under its own name. The two can show up as separate items on your report for the same bill, and "consumers generally are not required to be notified when debt is sold or assigned to a collection agency."[5]: p. 30 Which of the two you're dealing with decides which rights apply. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act covers people collecting debts owed to someone else, and it excludes a creditor's own staff "while, in the name of the creditor, collecting debts for such creditor." A creditor that collects under a different name is covered, though: the law "includes any creditor who, in the process of collecting his own debts, uses any name other than his own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts."[10]: (6)

If the account reaches collections

A debt collector must send you validation information (what you owe, to whom, and how to dispute it) in its first communication or "within five days of that initial communication".[11]: (a)(1) If you dispute the debt in writing within 30 days, the collector "shall cease collection of the debt, or any disputed portion thereof, until the debt collector obtains verification of the debt" and mails it to you.[12]: (b) Disputing the credit report itself is a separate process. A bureau that gets your dispute must, "free of charge, conduct a reasonable reinvestigation" within 30 days (up to 45 if you send more information during that time),[13]: (a)(1) and the company that reported the item must investigate and then modify, delete or block anything it finds inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable.[6]: (b)

This section describes federal law and industry practice in general terms. It doesn't cover state law, which can add protections, and it isn't legal advice. It describes a company's own policy only where that company is quoted above. See the disclaimer.

Account actions for non-payment

The milestones below follow the same 30/60/90/180-day industry convention as the reporting timeline above, not a schedule disclosed in Bank of America's cardmember agreements:

  1. ~30 days past due: the late fee has already applied since the missed due date; the payment can now be reported to the credit bureaus as 30 days late
  2. ~60 days past due: Penalty APR may be applied; account may be restricted
  3. ~90–120 days past due: Account may be closed by BoA
  4. ~180 days past due: Account charged off; the debt can then be sold or passed to a debt collector

After charge-off, the debt still exists. The collector can pursue payment and may sue.

Frequently asked questions

Can I ask Bank of America to waive a late fee? Yes. BoA customer service has discretion to waive a single late fee, especially for customers with a good payment history. Calling promptly after the missed payment improves your chances.

Does Bank of America offer hardship programs? Yes. BoA offers Cardholder Assistance Programs that may reduce interest rates, waive fees, or reduce minimum payments for customers facing genuine financial hardship. Call the number on the back of your card to discuss options.

Will using Preferred Rewards status help with a late payment situation? Preferred Rewards (BoA's loyalty program for combined account holders) doesn't automatically waive late fees, but customer service may consider your overall relationship when granting goodwill adjustments.

Source checked September 2026. This page is not affiliated with or endorsed by Bank of America. See our disclaimer.

References

  1. ^ Bank of America: Customized Cash Rewards Cardmember Agreement (accessed 2026-09-24)
  2. ^ Bank of America: Find Sample Credit Card Agreements (index of per-product sample agreements) (accessed 2026-09-22)
  3. ^ Experian: Glossary of Account Conditions and Payment Status, Version 7 (accessed 2026-09-24)
  4. ^ FFIEC: Uniform Retail Credit Classification and Account Management Policy (Federal Reserve) (accessed 2026-09-24)
  5. ^ CFPB: Key Dimensions and Processes in the U.S. Credit Reporting System (December 2012) (accessed 2026-09-24)
  6. ^ 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2: Responsibilities of furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies (accessed 2026-09-24)
  7. ^ 12 CFR 1006.30: Other prohibited practices (Regulation F) (accessed 2026-09-24)
  8. ^ 65 FR 36903: Uniform Retail Credit Classification and Account Management Policy (June 12, 2000) (accessed 2026-09-24)
  9. ^ 15 U.S.C. § 1681c: Requirements relating to information contained in consumer reports (accessed 2026-09-24)
  10. ^ 15 U.S.C. § 1692a: Definitions (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) (accessed 2026-09-24)
  11. ^ 12 CFR 1006.34: Notice for validation of debts (Regulation F) (accessed 2026-09-24)
  12. ^ 15 U.S.C. § 1692g: Validation of debts (accessed 2026-09-24)
  13. ^ 15 U.S.C. § 1681i: Procedure in case of disputed accuracy (accessed 2026-09-24)
Find another biller About our research