Metro 2 Payment History Profile Code 3: 90 Days Past Due

Specification

Code	3
Meaning	90 Days Past Due
Field	Payment History Profile (Field 18)
Record	Base Segment
Length / position	24 chars · 112–135
Category	Serious Delinquency
CRRG reference	CRRG Base Segment field definition, Payment History Profile

Three scheduled payments outstanding. This is where the grid stops looking like a stumble and starts looking like a default trajectory.
The 90-day mark is the practical decision point for a lot of portfolios, so a 3 is frequently the last purely numeric character before the string turns to G, K or L.
A cure from 3 goes directly to 0 in the month the account is brought fully current. Nothing requires stepping back down.
Does NOT by itself mean charged off. An account can sit at 3, 4, 5 and 6 for months without ever being charged off, and reporting L before you have actually charged the account off on your own books misstates the account.
Does NOT reset the Date of First Delinquency. The date belongs to the first missed payment that led here, which is roughly three months earlier.

1A credit union reports a 60-month auto loan three instalments behind while the recovery team evaluates whether to repossess.
2A card issuer reports a cardholder 90 days past due in the cycle before the account is placed with an internal collection unit.
3A mortgage servicer reports a borrower 90 days behind while a loss-mitigation application is under review.
4A student-loan servicer reports a private loan three payments behind and still inside the delinquency window before default.

Report 3 for the month the account was three cycles behind, and continue up the ladder each month the delinquency deepens.
Do not jump to L, G or K at 90 days unless you have actually charged off, placed for collection, or repossessed. The character has to match the real event.
Keep the Date of First Delinquency anchored to the original missed payment. Advancing it as the account deteriorates shortens the reporting period incorrectly.
Report a Date of Last Payment consistent with an account that has not made a full payment in three cycles.

A file can be structurally valid and still be wrong. These are the cross-field conditions Payment History Profile Code 3 has to satisfy.

Position 1 must match the current Payment Rating. A 3 in position 1 pairs with Payment Rating 3 (90 to 119 days past due).
3 in position 1 corresponds to Account Status 80 (90 to 119 days past due).
A Date of First Delinquency is required. At 90 days there is no scenario in which the field can legitimately be empty.
Amount Past Due should reflect three outstanding scheduled payments, and it should be growing month over month while the string climbs.
No gaps and no improvement behind a charge-off: if L already appears in a more recent position, a 3 in an older position is legitimate history, but a 3 in a NEWER position than an L is the improvement-after-charge-off defect.