How to Remove Late Payments from Credit Reports

One of the most common questions we hear is “how can I remove a late payment from my credit reports?”

First and foremost, I want to make it clear that credit repair services don’t have any magic letters that can remove all late payments from your credit reports.

Derogatory information can only be removed if there is an inaccuracy, or non-compliance issue (FCRA, FCBA, FDCPA, etc…), or if the credit furnisher chooses to stop reporting the delinquency.

Now that we have that out of the way, there are 3 ways to address your issues.

1. Credit bureau disputes

This option has the lowest probability of success. Late payment information reporting within the payment history of an account can be verified quite easily by the credit furnishers so disputing is a last resort.

2. Document Verification

Verification of the late payments via a document request with the credit furnishers
This option has a higher probability of success than a dispute because we are requesting that the credit furnisher provide documentation verifying that the late payments occurred on the days that they are reported. If the documents don’t match the information reporting within the payment history of the account trade line, the late payments may be removed from your credit reports.

3. Goodwill Request

This option has the highest probability of success if we’re working on an account reporting only 1 or 2 late payments. A goodwill request is a request made to the credit furnisher directly to make a 1-time goodwill adjustment and remove the late payment from your credit reports. Most consumers who try this option fail to get a removal because they focus too much on finding the perfect letter instead of focusing on what really matters, the recipient. If you address the goodwill request to the customer service center, you will be denied because they do not have the ability to remove late payments. We typically send emails, letters, and greeting cards to executives and managers of the credit departments in the company reporting late payment information. Accounts reporting late payments within the last 2 years have a higher removal rate than older late payments due to their impact on credit scores.

If you decide to use our services or work on the removal of the late payments yourself, we would suggest the goodwill option first. If any late payments are going to be removed from the goodwill request, they will be removed within 3 months. If the goodwill requests work, you’re done but, if after 3 months there are late payments still reporting, we would advise filing disputes with the credit bureaus and submitting document requests with the credit furnishers. If the late payments are verified as accurate we can try a method of verification request as a last-ditch effort.

Ultimately, if the late payments don’t get removed within 6 months, they are usually not going to be removed and you will have to wait for them to become 7 years old before they age off themselves.

That’s not to say that the goodwill requests or something else won’t work but, I just want to make sure that you have realistic expectations and that we are being as honest and upfront about the process as possible.

If you decide that you would like to give our service a shot you can sign up at https://creditfirm.net/signup/

The fee for our service is $49.99 per month and you may cancel anytime.