Quick summary

DetailValue
Grace periodNot published by the biller. See below.
Late feeNot published by the biller. See below.
Service restrictionNot published by the biller. See below.
Full disconnectionNot published by the biller. See below.
Reconnection feeNot published by the biller. See below.
Credit reportingReserves the right to report[1]
CollectionsNot published by the biller. See below.
Source checkedSeptember 2026

Late fee

WOW!'s Internet Terms of Service confirms a late fee applies to delinquent internet accounts, but does not publish a dollar amount:

"WOW! has made a reasonable estimate to determine the damages caused by late payments generally and has used this estimate to set a liquidated damages late fee amount. The current late fee can be provided upon request. WOW! reserves the right to change the late fee amount at any time in the future."

We found no WOW!-published document that states a specific dollar figure for the internet late fee. That includes its Cable Terms and Conditions, which covers a different service (see below).

Source: WOW! Internet Terms of Service[1]

Suspension timeline

WOW!'s Internet Terms of Service says a delinquent account can be assessed a late fee and have service interrupted, suspended, or disconnected, but it does not publish day counts for internet service:

  1. A late fee may be assessed
  2. WOW! "may, at its sole discretion … interrupt, suspend or disconnect any or all the Service(s) you receive"
  3. Delinquent balances may be sent to collections, with the customer responsible for collection costs

WOW!'s separate Cable Terms and Conditions state a specific trigger: "YOU WILL BE ASSESSED A MONTHLY LATE FEE FOR EACH ACCOUNT THAT HAS NOT BEEN PAID IN FULL AFTER THIRTY (30) DAYS FROM THE BILLING DATE" (§30). That document governs WOW!'s cable television service, not internet, so we don't use its 30-day figure on this internet page.

Sources: WOW! Internet Terms of Service[1] ; WOW! Cable Terms and Conditions, §30 (quoted above, for the internet/cable distinction only)[2]

Reconnection fee

WOW!'s Internet Terms of Service does not publish a reconnection-fee amount. To restore service after disconnection, you can generally expect to:

  • Pay the full past-due balance
  • Possibly pay a reconnect or trip charge "where applicable". WOW! does not publish an amount for this
  • Additional charges may apply for equipment redelivery or technician visits

Source: WOW! Internet Terms of Service[1]

Credit reporting

What WOW! says: WOW!'s Internet terms authorize it to disclose information about you, "including your payment history, to appropriate third parties, such as credit reporting agencies", and say that if WOW! uses "a collection agency or attorney to collect money owed by you", you pay the reasonable costs.[1]

What federal law actually sets

Reporting to the credit bureaus is optional. The CFPB puts it plainly: "Reporting to credit bureaus and other consumer reporting agencies by creditors is voluntary and historically has been. Not all creditors report information about their borrowers."[3]: p. 15 The Fair Credit Reporting Act's rules for the companies that do report cover accuracy, disputes and dates. They don't set a minimum number of days late before an account can be reported.[4]: (a)

The "30 days late" figure you see everywhere comes from the data format, not from a law. Most furnishers send data to the bureaus in Metro 2, which reports "the level of delinquency such as 30-59 days past due, 60-89 days past due, and up to 180 days or more past due."[3]: pp. 3, 16 Experian's list of payment-status codes has no code for anything less than 30 days late: the late codes start at "Account 30 days past due date" and go up in 30-day steps to 180.[5] So a payment 10 or 20 days late has no late code to be reported under, though a late fee can still apply.

A third-party debt collector can't report a debt until it has either spoken to you about it in person or by phone, or mailed or electronically sent you a message about it and waited "a reasonable period of time to receive a notice of undeliverability."[6]: (a)(1)

Charge-off

A charge-off is the lender writing the balance off its books as a loss. It isn't the lender giving up: the federal bank policy that sets charge-off timing says the write-off "does not mean that the asset has absolutely no recovery or salvage value."[7] That policy also sets the timing, for banks and thrifts only: "Closed-end retail loans that become past due 120 cumulative days and open-end retail loans that become past due 180 cumulative days from the contractual due date should be classified loss and charged off." Closed-end means a loan with a fixed schedule, such as an installment loan; open-end means a revolving line, such as a credit card. Credit unions are outside it. Their regulator, the NCUA, "does not plan to adopt the Uniform Policy at this time."[8] It doesn't apply to phone, cable, streaming, insurance or utility companies either, because none of them is a bank. When one of those companies writes off a balance, the timing is its own.

How long it can stay on a report

For an account placed for collection or charged off, the Fair Credit Reporting Act's seven-year limit doesn't start on the day you fell behind. It starts 180 days later: the seven years begin "upon the expiration of the 180-day period beginning on the date of the commencement of the delinquency which immediately preceded the collection activity, charge to profit and loss, or similar action."[9]: (c)(1) That makes it about seven and a half years from the first missed payment. Paying the balance later doesn't restart or shorten that clock. Whoever reports a collection or charge-off must also tell the bureau "the month and year of the commencement of the delinquency", within 90 days of reporting it, and a collector who later reports the same account complies by reporting "the same date of delinquency as that provided by the creditor".[4]: (a)(5) A late payment that never goes to collection or charge-off falls under a separate catch-all, "any other adverse item of information", which also runs seven years but names no start date.[9]: (a)(5)

Direct reporting vs. collections

A company can report an account it still owns, or it can hand or sell the account to a collection agency, which then reports under its own name. The two can show up as separate items on your report for the same bill, and "consumers generally are not required to be notified when debt is sold or assigned to a collection agency."[3]: p. 30 Which of the two you're dealing with decides which rights apply. The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act covers people collecting debts owed to someone else, and it excludes a creditor's own staff "while, in the name of the creditor, collecting debts for such creditor." A creditor that collects under a different name is covered, though: the law "includes any creditor who, in the process of collecting his own debts, uses any name other than his own which would indicate that a third person is collecting or attempting to collect such debts."[10]: (6)

If the account reaches collections

A debt collector must send you validation information (what you owe, to whom, and how to dispute it) in its first communication or "within five days of that initial communication".[11]: (a)(1) If you dispute the debt in writing within 30 days, the collector "shall cease collection of the debt, or any disputed portion thereof, until the debt collector obtains verification of the debt" and mails it to you.[12]: (b) Disputing the credit report itself is a separate process. A bureau that gets your dispute must, "free of charge, conduct a reasonable reinvestigation" within 30 days (up to 45 if you send more information during that time),[13]: (a)(1) and the company that reported the item must investigate and then modify, delete or block anything it finds inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable.[4]: (b)

Phone, cable and utility accounts

Phone, pay-TV and utility companies can also share your account history with a separate reporting company, the National Consumer Telecom & Utilities Exchange (NCTUE). According to the CFPB, it "collects and shares information on new telecom and utility connect requests, paid-as-agreed and past-due account and payment histories including delinquencies and charge-offs." Equifax runs the database for its members, but "Equifax is not a member of the NCTUE," and you can ask the NCTUE for a free copy of your report every 12 months.[14] Whether a particular provider reports to the NCTUE, to the three big bureaus, to both or to neither is up to that provider.

This section describes federal law and industry practice in general terms. It doesn't cover state law, which can add protections, and it isn't legal advice. It describes a company's own policy only where that company is quoted above. See the disclaimer.

Equipment charges

WOW!-owned equipment (modems, gateways, set-top boxes) must be returned after service ends. Unreturned equipment results in additional charges per device, which can run into the hundreds of dollars. Like other delinquent balances, they can be sent to collections at your cost.

Frequently asked questions

Does WOW! offer a payment arrangement? Yes. WOW! customer care can set up a payment arrangement that splits a past-due balance into smaller installments, which may delay disconnection.

Will WOW! waive the late fee? WOW! representatives have discretion to waive a late fee, especially for customers with strong payment history.

Is WOW! available everywhere? No. WOW! serves only specific regional markets primarily in the Midwest and Southeast US. If you move out of WOW!'s footprint, you must disconnect rather than transfer service.

Source checked September 2026. This page is not affiliated with or endorsed by WOW! or Wide Open West. See our disclaimer.

References

  1. ^ WOW!: High-Speed Internet Terms and Conditions (accessed 2026-09-24)
  2. ^ WOW! Cable Terms and Conditions (accessed 2026-09-24)
  3. ^ CFPB: Key Dimensions and Processes in the U.S. Credit Reporting System (December 2012) (accessed 2026-09-24)
  4. ^ 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2: Responsibilities of furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies (accessed 2026-09-24)
  5. ^ Experian: Glossary of Account Conditions and Payment Status, Version 7 (accessed 2026-09-24)
  6. ^ 12 CFR 1006.30: Other prohibited practices (Regulation F) (accessed 2026-09-24)
  7. ^ FFIEC: Uniform Retail Credit Classification and Account Management Policy (Federal Reserve) (accessed 2026-09-24)
  8. ^ 65 FR 36903: Uniform Retail Credit Classification and Account Management Policy (June 12, 2000) (accessed 2026-09-24)
  9. ^ 15 U.S.C. § 1681c: Requirements relating to information contained in consumer reports (accessed 2026-09-24)
  10. ^ 15 U.S.C. § 1692a: Definitions (Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) (accessed 2026-09-24)
  11. ^ 12 CFR 1006.34: Notice for validation of debts (Regulation F) (accessed 2026-09-24)
  12. ^ 15 U.S.C. § 1692g: Validation of debts (accessed 2026-09-24)
  13. ^ 15 U.S.C. § 1681i: Procedure in case of disputed accuracy (accessed 2026-09-24)
  14. ^ CFPB: National Consumer Telecom & Utilities Exchange (NCTUE) (accessed 2026-09-24)
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