If you have a late payment, it will appear on a credit report for seven years (or seven years from the delinquency date).
Initially, a late payment will negatively affect your creditworthiness, so working to make your account current and continuing to make all your payments on time will diminish the effect on your credit score.
If you are actively working to pay off the account and it is in good standing, the account will remain on your report until it is closed. At the time of account closure (without any other late payments) it will be removed from your report ten years after it is closed.