You have the right to try to remove a late payment from your credit reports if they are invalid or unjustified. Legitimate late payments cannot be removed and will stay on your credit reports for up to seven years. Understanding why you received a late payment status on your credit is key to knowing if the item can be removed.
Late Payments Can Impact Credit
A late payment could hurt your credit scores. Some lay payment notices can impact credit scores by 40 points. Keep track of your required payment dates. Be on top of when you will go late and make sure to avoid late payments. There are different status reporting – 30 days late, 60 days late and 90 days late. Theses status affect your credit scores in many ways.
How Long Do Late Payments Stay on Your Credit Report?
Late payments can stay on your credit reports for up to seven years. Closed accounts stay on your credit report for up to 10 years if you bring the account current before paying it off or closing it. Make sure to exit each provider relationship with some type of resolution. Not handling things properly can impact you financially for up to decade.
Removing Late Payments From Bureaus
You cannot remove accurate late payments from bureau report. However, you have the right through the Fair Credit Reporting Act to dispute inaccurate late payments reporting.
The key steps are as follows:
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- Pull your credit reports from the top three bureaus. You can do this once a year for free. Or you can pull a tri-merge report using a high-quality credit monitoring service.
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- Look for inaccurate data, erroneous reporting, and unauthorized inquiries. This information can be adjusted and or removed.
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- Send Dispute Letters to the bureau with the inaccurate information. Demand that the information be adjusted or removed.