Can Late Payments Be Deleted?

Learn how long late payments stay on your credit report and how you can dispute incorrect information with Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

Can Late Payments Be Deleted?

If there is an incorrect late payment on your credit reports, you can file a dispute with the appropriate creditor or credit agency to try to get the brand removed. But if the delay in payment is accurate, you should know that it is unlikely that you will be able to erase the derogatory mark ahead of time. Most negative information, including late payments, will be taken off your credit reports after seven years. In addition, when a series of late payments causes your account to be closed, debited, or sent to a collection agency, the entire account will be deleted seven years after the first failed payment that led to that status.

Chapter 7 bankruptcies stay on your credit report for up to 10 years, but accounts included in bankruptcy are also eliminated after seven years. Depending on factors such as your credit history and score, how severe the late payment was, and how long ago it occurred, it can have a serious impact on your credit rating. Having late payments on your credit report could significantly affect your credit score and you could even end up being unable to get certain benefits because of it. It's not always possible to remove a late payment from your credit report, but there are other ways to improve your credit score.

Payments that are less than 30 days late will not affect your credit report or credit score, although you may be subject to late fees or other penalties from your lender. After that time, payments will fall off your credit reports, will no longer be shown to others, and will not be part of your credit rating. Credit reports usually contain information about open and closed credit accounts, payment history, collection actions, and public records, such as bankruptcies. If you're reading this and you've already reported delinquency on your credit report, it's obviously too late to prevent negative marks from appearing on your credit history.

Since payment history is the most important factor in your credit score, a late payment can have a big impact on your credit. In some cases, late payments may be removed from your credit reports as you rebuild your credit. Typically, your credit can recover from an isolated payment 30 days late in a few months, as long as you otherwise have good credit and a long history of paying on time. If a late payment is incorrectly reported on your credit report, you should take steps to dispute the incorrect information with the three major credit bureaus Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

Instead, Bank of America notes that “the best way to address negative credit history is to reestablish your credit by moving forward and establishing a strong history of timely payments. Creditors are not always willing to ask credit reporting agencies to remove the right elements because doing so goes beyond the limits of legality under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which stipulates that it is illegal for provider companies (such as your creditor) to report information that they know is incorrect. Once a late payment is reported to one of the three major bureaus (Experian, TransUnion or Equifax), it can stay on your credit report for up to seven years. If you could send a letter of goodwill that causes late payments to be completely eliminated from your credit reports, you could enjoy a healthier credit score for years to come.

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