Guide To Removing Late Payments

Not all late payments are the same. According to FICO, a 30 day late payment will cost you around 60-100 points, while a 90 day late payment could cost you over 200 points! That's like getting a bankruptcy marked up against you. Suffice it to say, keeping on top of your debt payments is the most important thing you can do to keep your credit score in tact. But things happen, medical bills, bureau mistakes,

There are basically two ways to go about trying to remove late payments from your credit report:

1. Ask the creditor to remove the late payment.

What's known in the credit restoration community as a "goodwill letter", sending a letter to the originating creditor and asking them to forgive the transgression is a legit, if not a bit difficult way of asking to continue a relationship between consumer and creditor that benefits both.

Many creditors see it as a way to continue a profitable relationship with a customer who obviously cares enough about their credit score that they are addressing their issues. Someone who takes the time to write a letter, and try to get the transgression off their report, is probably someone who is paying close enough attention that won't let it happen again.

2. Dispute the late payment with the bureaus.

If the listing is simply inaccurate, or even misleading, questionable, biased or unverifiable, you can write the credit bureaus and ask them to open an investigation with the creditor. Even though the creditor will only have 30 days to prove that the item is accurate, the bureau will stall, deny, or delay the investigation on the account that it's required by law for them to do, not a profitable endeavor.

Try to dispute items on your own can be extremely frustrating for someone who doesn't know how to deal with the bureaus. Many turn to a professional credit restoration service, like you would turn to a lawyer to represent you in court; someone who knows the laws and the ins and outs of the credit system - and knows what to expect from the bureaus.

In 2008, Lexington Law helped their clients remove late payments 36,611 times! That's in 1 year alone. This year, they're already on pace to pass that number! Since they started restoring credit reports in 1991, their clients have seen literally millions of negative items removed from their credit reports by the bureaus. Ask any other credit repair company for their numbers, and see what you get.

If you are dealing with the ill effects of a late payment on your credit report, do yourself a favor and call Lexington and see what they can do for you. The sooner you start your credit restoration journey, the sooner you'll have it all behind you.

By: Jack Robber

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Jack has been in the credit repair field since 2001. I have worked with large credit repair companies and worked on mine, my family's, and my friends credit reports. I know the ins and outs of credit restoration and hope to help others to get what they want with their credit reports. I have seen hundreds of thousands of removed late payments.