<prompt> Human: Never owned a credit card, only my bank debitcredit card. Ive been late on a few electric bills in my life, also my college loans Ive been slowly paying back minimum balance and Ive been late a few times. I am guilty of missing a few consecutive payments due to my car breaking down, and moving locations. Starting to get more on my feet now. Im just wondering how bad I could have messed things up already.  <response>: Of all the above that you mention, the one that would hurt your credit score is missing a few consecutive payments.Late payments are not reported to the credit bureaus until they are 30 days late. So that saved you on a few of the incidents you mention.Since you do not seem to have any other forms of credit besides one on which you missed several payments, your credit score is probably pretty bad.Have you been paying on time now for quite some time? That will help your score.Getting a credit card and paying it off in full every month could also help build up your score. But if the temptation to use it will be too much for you, then I would not suggest getting one until you are in a better financial place with full control of your spending.I also recommend you check your credit reports with all three bureaus to be sure no mistakes are on your reports.Get them free at 