The side effects of a Late Payment on your credit
Having a late payment account on your credit report can be very damaging to your credit score. There are a few different categories that late payments fall into, based on how late the actual payments were.
If you have a late payment account on your credit report that that is 30 – 60 days late, it can easily decrease over one – hundred points. If the late payment was made 90 – 120 days after, your score will take an even bigger dive.
If the late payment was recent in relation to your overall payment history it will impact your score on a much more significant level. If the late payment was marked on the account at a much earlier date in time, it will not have as bad of an effect on your overall credit score.
Smaller and limited late payments, can often times be challenged for release by talking directly to the creditor using creditor-direct interventions which are essentially good-natured requests to release the late payment listings.
Disputing a Late Payment by yourself
If the late payment is clearly inaccurate, misleading, or unverifiable the credit bureaus will likely erased it if you send them a dispute letter. Within the letter make sure to be as specific as possible targeted towards the items you believe are not accurate or is an error.
If the late payment was not an error, but was caused due to special circumstances, for example being in a hospital and unable to attend to your bills, then you will have to take a different approach. So long as you can compile a solid case for yourself regarding why the payment was made late, then you have a reasonable chance getting the late payment further investigated.
Taking this route requires a little bit of credit know – how, so you may have to educate yourself to bridge the gaps, depending on how familiar you are with dispute process. Enhancing your credit education is beneficial but it also can be time consuming and difficult to understand.
With that being said, this method is not for everyone and can actually prove to me more stressful than it’s worth because it is entirely your responsibility to get the negative account removed and this requires you to have a lot of patience and tolerance for people who are not necessarily in the mood to cut you some slack.
A more simplistic approach to removing your late payment
Fortunately, there is a viable alternative option to dealing with the creditor or agency all by yourself. Most individuals who have been in this position have found that paying for a credit repair service is a much better option.
Lexington law has one of the most renowned credit repair services in the United States. They have helped millions of clients remove negative credit listings and have improved a countless number of credit scores. If you would like to speak with a professional paralegal form the Lexington Law firm, simply fill out the form below and a designated paralegal will contact you for a free, no obligation credit consultation.