Late payments on credit report - ever had one removed?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

My social security # was stolen in 2005 (with minimal damage) as a sophomore in college. I had a fraud alert on initiated for 3 months and pulled my credit reports. Since then - and I’m truly ashamed to admit this - I have pulled my credit report & score exactly 0 times until this week. I am an idiot, I am aware of this, don’t berate me over this. I’ll be pulling all three every 4 months now.

My credit score is okay, not great, and I obviously want to get it over 700. I’ve been reading Your Credit Score: Your Money & What’s at Stake. Needless to say, while I’m not in debt, I’ve been going about it all wrong. Suffice to say that charging everything on your credit card up to 70% of the limit every month in order to “earn points” - even if you pay it off every month! - is not a good idea. Having 2-3 cards is better, so your overall limit is higher. Balances are reported and should never exceed 30% of your limit (also not intuitive in the least). Even one late payment can screw you, which I’ve had a couple of - for no good reason other than sheer forgetfulness.

Anyways, the only truly bad mark on the report is a 90 day late payment to my University in 2007. Bwah? Well, it was my first semester transferring to a new school and I had a lot on my mind. There was only a $50 late payment at stake for the whole semester. Whatever! I put it on the back burner, and finally got around to paying it in October. Never once was I emailed or sent a letter asking me to get my ass in gear and pay my tuition bill. And I CERTAINLY was never told they would report it. The kicker is that there’s no history of “paying” on time - just one 90 day late payment that reads “closed”.

So, what to do? Have you ever asked a creditor to stop reporting just one late payment when the account’s been closed for years? Did you call them or write them a nice letter like this? Did it work? Who on earth would I address the letter to at the University? Do I just chalk it up to youthful ignorance?

2

I pulled my report once and found an unpaid bill for an optomitrist for some small amount under a hundred. It had just gotten lost in the shuffle, my fault entirely. I mailed them a check and a week or so later called them and asked them to have the report removed.

They agreed, the strike went away, no hassle at all.

Bottom line, ask. They may already have a policy in place regarding such things.

3

Projammer, my bill is paid in full. The only thing is that it’s listed as 90 days delinquent, which is bad.

Did you call them before mailing the payment, or just afterwards, to ensure they didn’t still report it? (some places continue reporting it)

4

I called after the payment was made and cleared. I just explained the issue, took full responsibility for the problem and politely asked if they would have it removed.

My understanding is that once a delinquency is reported, it stays until it ages out or until the reporting party has it removed. I’m not sure what the expiration period is, different types of information fall off at different times, and there may be some dependency on what state it’s in.

Another option is to challenge it with the credit bureaus and if the reporting party doesn’t confirm it to be valid it will go away. With it being paid in full they may not bother responding.

5

Okay, sounds like I’ll first write a letter, follow up with a phone call 10 days later, and then challenge it with the bureaus. That seems logical. Thanks Projammer! Urgh. The ignorance of youth.

6

Lesson learned NEVER pay until you come to agreement that they will pull the item off the report. Even that doesn’t always work as their is no way you can make them do it.

Challange the item and hope they don’t respond