Hi All,

I'm relatively new to this board, but I posted here a couple of times. let me first thank you all for all the goodhearted support and encouragement you spread around.

My situation is as follows. I have a very short credit history. I am 28, a graduate student (I get a stipend and I work at the University), and I've only been in the US for a year and a half. I have two credit cards, a Visa from my credit union with a $4000 limit and a student AmEx with a $2400 limit (both are unsecured, and I only have them a little over a year). I pay my bills on time, so no revolving credit, and no finance charges. Ever (or so I thought). I probably have too many inquiries in my credit report, since when I just got here I applied (and was denied) credit numerous times. I guess I shot way over my league.

Last month I paid one part of my AmEx bill early, so that took care of the minimum payment. Towards the end of the month I tried to pay the rest of my bill ($100) online. However, AmEx tried to pull the money from my (new) Online Bank Account, where the checking account didn't have enough to cover the payment, but the MMA did. Of course, I didn't know that the two accounts were NOT linked. So the payment was denied.

AmEx charged $29 "returned payment fee" and some small change as finance charge (luckily, I caught it on time). I called to explain, and they waived the fee as a courtesy.

My question is, what effect, if any, will this have on my credit report?

Thanks for any comments,
YN