How to Fix Your Credit After Two 30 Day Late Payments

Paying on time matters to creditors so much that it makes up 35 percent of your credit score. Multiple late payments can hurt as bad as bankruptcy, a collection, judgment, or repossession if it goes unpaid too long. In other words, a $45 monthly payment missed for over 30 days can matter as much as a $2,500 monthly payment simply because they are paid late. Fortunately, there are ways to minimize and repair the damage before it's too late.

Instructions

1

Investigate the problem by ordering a credit report from each of the three major bureaus (Equifax, Transunion, or Equifax). Check the late payments focusing on the dates and cross reference them with statements from your bank or credit union to determine if the payments were indeed late. It is not uncommon for creditors to make mistakes, especially if the payment was made barely late or just on time. If the payment was very close to being on time, the creditor may forgive the offense.

2

Contact the creditors where you have outstanding payments or have paid late. Explain your situation, apologize, and state reasons why the situation will not repeat itself. Request that the creditor remove the late payments from your record. Since the credit bureaus create your score from reports received from your creditors, this will improve your score significantly.

3

Improve your credit from now on by making every debt-related payment on time. This means a mortgage, credit cards, and even bills need to be paid with care if you want to convince lenders you are a dependable borrower. Do not cut yourself off from credit. Keeping lines of credit open is the only way to improve a credit score, so just getting debt free won't necessarily raise a score.

4

Hire a lawyer from a law firm that specializes in working with credit bureaus to delete negative items from credit reports. If your creditors are unwilling to work with you, then professional representation can often produce better results.