Can Late Payments Be Erased from Your Credit Reports?
- By Lexington Law
- Published 11/24/2009
- Finance
- Unrated
Lexington Law
Providing credit repair services since 1991, Lexington Law has helped over 500,000 clients legally take on their credit. Last year alone, Lexington Law helped clients remove over 600,000 negative items from their credit reports.
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Depending on how late a creditor reports you were on a payment, even a single late payment on your credit reports can do some serious damage to your credit rating. One 90-day late payment recorded on your credit reports can damage your credit score as much as a collection account, judgment, or tax lien.
30 and 60 day late payments don't hurt your credit score as much, but if you have multiple delinquencies on your credit reports, it shouldn't come as a surprise when your credit isn't as good as you would prefer it to be.
Regardless of whether a late payment is reported as 30, 60, 90, or 120 days late, your credit score would probably be better if it didn't appear on your credit reports. Almost everyone would prefer to have this derogatory credit listing deleted, but few realize there is something they can do about it. What they are not aware of is that there are steps you can take in an effort to remove late payments from your credit reports. In fact, Lexington Law, a consumer advocacy law firm with 18 years of experience helping over 1/2 million Americans work to improve their credit, reports that their clients had over 140,000 late payments removed from their credit reports in 2008.
You have a number of options when it comes to fixing your credit. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have the right to dispute with the
credit bureaus any items in your credit reports you feel may be inaccurate, untimely, misleading, incomplete, ambiguous, unverifiable, biased or unclear (known as "questionable" items). Essentially, as the name of the act implies, you have the right to question any items in your credit reports that you feel give others an unfair impression of your credit worthiness; including late payments.
If a credit bureau dispute doesn't result in a removal or if the reported late payment does not fit the definition of a questionable negative item, there are still options available to you. Your creditors have the ability to remove the items they have added to your credit reports whenever they have reason to do so. Sometimes, simply as a result of you asking nicely, they will agree to stop reporting a negative item. If a friendly request doesn't do the job, there are more confrontational tactics you can employ based on your rights under consumer protection laws such as the Fair Credit Billing Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
It isn't necessarily easy, but with time, effort, and proper knowledge, you may be able to remove late payments from your credit reports. Of course, if you do not have the time or the desire to attempt repairing your own credit, there are a number of reputable credit repair companies who can use their knowledge and experience to aid you in working towards your credit goals.
30 and 60 day late payments don't hurt your credit score as much, but if you have multiple delinquencies on your credit reports, it shouldn't come as a surprise when your credit isn't as good as you would prefer it to be.
Regardless of whether a late payment is reported as 30, 60, 90, or 120 days late, your credit score would probably be better if it didn't appear on your credit reports. Almost everyone would prefer to have this derogatory credit listing deleted, but few realize there is something they can do about it. What they are not aware of is that there are steps you can take in an effort to remove late payments from your credit reports. In fact, Lexington Law, a consumer advocacy law firm with 18 years of experience helping over 1/2 million Americans work to improve their credit, reports that their clients had over 140,000 late payments removed from their credit reports in 2008.
You have a number of options when it comes to fixing your credit. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have the right to dispute with the
If a credit bureau dispute doesn't result in a removal or if the reported late payment does not fit the definition of a questionable negative item, there are still options available to you. Your creditors have the ability to remove the items they have added to your credit reports whenever they have reason to do so. Sometimes, simply as a result of you asking nicely, they will agree to stop reporting a negative item. If a friendly request doesn't do the job, there are more confrontational tactics you can employ based on your rights under consumer protection laws such as the Fair Credit Billing Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
It isn't necessarily easy, but with time, effort, and proper knowledge, you may be able to remove late payments from your credit reports. Of course, if you do not have the time or the desire to attempt repairing your own credit, there are a number of reputable credit repair companies who can use their knowledge and experience to aid you in working towards your credit goals.