A credit report is a record of your borrowing habits, both excellent and poor. When undesirable information appears on your credit report, it is referred to as a derogatory mark. These derogatory credit marks serve as warning signals to lenders that use your credit record to assess you. Derogatory marks are usually used to indicate errors or incidents that demonstrate you have an imperfect payment history. If a lender sees too many, he or she may offer you a more expensive product or reject your application entirely. Each derogatory mark reduces your credit score and makes you less creditworthy, but some are more serious than others. Furthermore, some derogatory marks will have less of an impact on your credit as you age. A late payment made this year, for example, will appear worse than one made five years ago.