Who Can Report Delinquent Debts to Credit Bureaus?

The three major credit bureaus, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax, maintain each consumer's credit report. Your credit report reflects your past and current debts and how frequently you make payments to your creditors. Future lenders and creditors consider your credit history when determining whether to lend to you. Delinquent debts are those on which you owe an outstanding balance and have not submitted payments. These debts have a negative affect on your credit score.

Mortgage Lenders

If you have a mortgage loan, your mortgage company reports your loan account to all three credit bureaus. Mortgage companies update your payment information monthly. Making a payment a few days late may result in a late fee, but will not appear as a delinquency on your credit report. Once you go 30 days or more without paying your mortgage, however, your mortgage lender notifies the credit bureaus that your payment never arrived and the delinquency appears on your credit report.

Credit Card Companies

Credit card companies, like mortgage lenders, report the existence of your account and your payment history on the debt to the credit bureaus. Late credit card payments that result in a delinquency only remain a part of your credit history for seven years. Should you stop making payments altogether, the credit card company will charge-off your debt and sell it to another company for collection. Like late payments, charge-offs have a seven-year reporting period.

Collection Agencies

If you do not redeem a delinquent debt, your creditor will turn the account over to a collection agency. While many collection agencies report delinquent debts to the credit bureaus, some do not. A collection agency's ability to file consumer reports depends on if it holds contracts with each credit bureau. Thus, smaller collection agencies may only report debt to one or two of the credit bureaus instead of all three.

Automobile Loan Lenders

If you finance your car, your loan will result in the automobile lender inserting a trade line on your credit report. Like mortgage lenders and credit card companies, auto lenders can report delinquencies to the credit bureaus. If your delinquent auto loan results in the lender repossessing the vehicle, a record of the repossession will also appear on your credit report and remain for seven years.

Courts

The courts maintain public records about you that pertain to your previous history with debt -- such as bankruptcies and court judgments. Unlike other creditors, the courts do not hold reporting contracts with the credit bureaus. Courts update public information about debtors into the U.S. government's Public Access to Court Electronic Records database -- known as PACER. The credit bureaus then pull new public records from PACER and update each consumer's credit record accordingly.