August 20, 2009

As you might know 30 late payments can be one of the single worse ways to ruin an excellent credit score.  But getting them removed is both possible and impossible.

If you already have an excellent credit score a single late payment could be pretty painful.  You have excellent credit for a reason and any that indicates a change in behavior such as a late payment will carry a large negative weight.

As stated above getting 30 day late payments removed is possible.  The most common example of this would be error made by your creditor.  They report you as being late even though you have paid on time.  You would find these by checking your credit report on a regular basis and looking for common credit report errors.  You then would follow the dispute process with the credit bureau that provided you with the credit report.

By law, the credit bureau must conduct an investigation into the dispute.  Also, it is wise to provide them with as much evidence as you can find regarding the situation to support your case.  There are two possible outcomes to these disputes.

First, the creditor will look into the situation and find that it was truly an error.  The creditor responds back to the credit bureau saying it was a mistake and really should be removed.  The credit bureau is then obligated to provide you with a new copy of the report without the error.

The second outcome is credit bureau contacts the account and the creditor states that the disputed item is not an error.  In this case it will state on your credit report.  You then will have to contact your account about the situation and try to resolve the issue directly with them.  You can also add a 100 word statement to your account explaining your side of the story.  But you should know that these 100 word statements will not be taken into account when calculating your credit score.

Another scenario is that in fact you really did pay late.  In this case there is little much you can do.  This delinquency is going to be with you for a long time, 7 years.

So really you really need to stay on top of your bills and know when they are due.  Cut the checks early of use online bill pay to ensure it gets there on time.