However, legitimate late payments cannot be removed and will stay on your credit reports for up to seven years, even if you bring the account current. Although you might not be able to remove them early, their impact on your credit scores can diminish over time.
The good news is that the late payment will stop having a big impact on your score after two years ... at least that's what I've noticed. The delinquency will still be there but your score should start going back up after two years. You can increase your score in the meantime by adding a few new accounts.
I truly believe that it doesn't reflect my creditworthiness and commitment to repaying my debts. It would help me immensely if you could give me a second chance and make a goodwill adjustment to remove the late [payment/payments] on [date/dates]. Thank you for your consideration, and I hope you'll approve my request.
A goodwill letter is a formal letter sent to a creditor, lender or collection agency to request forgiveness for a late payment or other negative item on your credit report. In the letter, you typically: Explain the circumstances that led to the late payment or issue.
The effects of late payments are long-lasting but not permanent. A late payment will be removed from your credit reports after seven years. However, late payments generally have less influence on your credit scores as more time passes.
A 609 letter won't erase valid negative marks like late payments, defaults, or collections if the information has been verified and is correct. Additionally, 609 letters won't relieve you of your obligation to repay any existing debt.
Simply write a letter to your creditor to explain why you made the late or missed the payment and take responsibility for it. In the letter, it may help to point out that you have previously made consistently on-time payments and plan to continue that payment pattern. Then, ask the creditor to remove the negative item.
It may also characterize a longer credit history with a few mistakes along the way, such as occasional late or missed payments, or a tendency toward relatively high credit usage rates. Late payments (past due 30 days) appear in the credit reports of 33% of people with FICO® Scores of 700.
Most negative items should automatically fall off your credit reports seven years from the date of your first missed payment, at which point your credit score may start rising. But if you are otherwise using credit responsibly, your score may rebound to its starting point within three months to six years.
According to FICO data, a 30-day missed payment can drop a fair credit score anywhere from 17 to 37 points and a very good or excellent credit score to drop 63 to 83 points. But a longer, 90-day missed payment drops the same fair score 27 to 47 points and drops the excellent score as much as 113 to 133 points.
You might still be able to get the collections removed even if you've already paid your debt without any agreement in place. You can send a goodwill letter to your creditor to remove negative marks. While this usually works better with delinquencies than collections, it doesn't hurt to try.
Goodwill Letter
According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), creditors and credit bureaus must report accurate information about your personal finances. But creditors and credit bureaus also have the freedom to choose whether or not they want to report every single late payment.
If there's an incorrect late payment on your credit reports, you can file a dispute with the creditor or the corresponding credit bureau to try and get the mark removed. But if the late payment is correct, you should know you probably won't be able to get rid of the derogatory mark before its time.
Late payments can stay on your credit reports for seven years and impact your credit scores. But you may be able to minimize the damage and dispute any late payments that were erroneously reported.
I am sincerely sorry for the delay in payment on {loan type}. I apologize for any inconvenience or frustration this caused you. The delay was caused by {reason}. While I take full responsibility for my mistake, I would like to assure you that this was a one-time error on my part.
On its face, a pay-for-delete letter is simple. These are "written requests sent to creditors or collection agencies to try to remove negative information from a person's credit report, in exchange for payment," says Tiffany Cross, executive vice president of national sales at CredEvolv.
Unfortunately, an actual late payment is nearly impossible to remove from your credit report even if you were able to convince your card issuer to waive any fees you may have been charged. Still, late payments sometimes get reported erroneously to the credit bureaus and can be disputed.
It's important to acknowledge your misstep in the letter and provide a short explanation for why you missed or were late on a payment. Perhaps you lost your job, had sudden medical bills, or experienced another financial hardship. You can also talk about how the negative impact on your credit score is affecting you.
Late payments stay on your credit report for seven years. While your credit score can initially take a significant hit, it will recover over time if you don't make any more late payments.