Will late payments on my car loan affect my loan application?

Possibly. There are actually three different definitions of a 'late payment'. Let's assume your payment due date under the loan agreement is the 1st day of each month. Legally, your payment is late, and you are in default if the payment is not received by the lender on the 1st. The second definition is the date the lender is legally allowed to collect a late charge or late fee. On most consumer accounts, like auto loans, this is the10th calendar day after the payment is due, so a payment received on the 11th would be both in default and subject to a late fee. The third definition is the date that a lender is allowed to report the payment as late to the credit reporting agencies, like Trans Union, Experian or Equifax. Here, the law allows the lender to report the payment only if the payment is not received before the next payment is due. So, a payment due on March 1st, is reportable ONLY if the payment is NOT received by the lender BEFORE April 1st.Essentially, you could be 11 days late on every single payment for the entire loan, and from a credit bureau perspective, all payments were paid on-time. Since you said you were approved, I would therefore assume that you were not over 30-days late on any of your payments and you would not need to worry. Ask your lender for a copy of your credit report to confirm they are not reflected as late.Bert Carpenter, The LoansA2z Team of NEXA Mortgage ~ NMLS 40586 ~ Certified Mortgage Advisor and Certified by The National Association of Mortgage Professionals as a Certified Veterans Lending Specialist.Licensed in AZ, CA, GA, IL, MO, OR & WA. FL & TX coming soon In fact, NEXA is licensed in all states except MA and NY so give us a call. ~ www.ApplyYes.com 480-889-9000 - OR - 480-695-9300.