Credit

[Tons]

Is it possible to remove late payments?

[MarvBear]

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[Flyingifr]

1 hour ago, Tons said:

Is it possible to remove late payments?

Depends on how late, how long the account was late and who the creditor is. There is no stock answer that says "yes" or no" nor is there a list that shows which will and which won't, although a list of which won't would probably be much longer and more reliable than a list of which will.

[hegemony]

welcome to CB! what are you exactly dealing with? are the accounts still open?

[hdporter]

A stock answer by (what appears to be) a majority of card issuers is along the lines of:  "We're contractually obligated to report all credit history to the credit bureau and are not permitted to remove history".

 

When you come up across this statement, no amount of cajoling or negotiation will likely be successful in persuading your issuer to remove adverse report contact

 

I can't speak to any such "contract" with the CRA's to whom issuers report.  I can tell you that under the Fair Credit Reporting Act the only such stipulation is that whatever the creditors choose to report, must be accurate.  (Big difference).

 

------

 

Legally, issuers/"reporters" are permitted to revise tradeline content in any manner they deem appropriate providing, of course, it is accurate.  Thus, consistent with the FCRA, an issuer can instruct a CRA to remove adverse payment history and treat the months as if they simply weren't reported.  They may not instruct the CRA change the reporting so that "current" payments are reflected instead.

 

The action of an issuer instructing such adverse entry removal is referred to as a "goodwill" gesture.  Prior to 15-20 years ago, most creditors facilitated such requests when given a reasonable hardship explanation of why  the account became delinquent.  (Illness, job loss, catastrophe, etc.)  Then, every credit forum, article, blog, etc. decided to blast out that this was a "thing" and the goodwill requests to issuers exploded.  (Presumably, in a majority of cases, such requests were submitted without any reasonable/true rationale underlying the request.)  "Goodwill" consideration largely "left the building" subsequent to that.

 

There are isolated reports of some issuers still granting goodwill exceptions and authorizing the removal of adverse credit report entries ... very few and relatively far between.

 

My recommendation is that if you experienced a hardship that you can substantively document, to send a short and simple request to your creditor, detail precisely which month's history you seek removal (or, if applicable, the entire tradeline), with compelling documentation ... and hope for the best.

 

Because of the instruction to document, I don't advise entering into any discussion over the phone.  It's also generally recommended that such written requests are best routed to senior staff (say, someone with a VP or Director title (... talking an "officer" title and not a actual member of their Board of Directors).  If you do a search on CB for the text "goodwill", among results you'll find some suggestions as to how to go about find such a name and associated address.

 

Finally, as you proceed, don't hesitate to report back here and, if desired, ask for added guidance.  Very sincere wishes her for success!

 

 

[patrickm89]

I've personally tried calling and writing several goodwill letters to Ally bank. My letters were ignored so far and my phone calls were met with standard "we need to accurately report all history." Any recourse at this point?

[hegemony]

13 hours ago, patrickm89 said:

I've personally tried calling and writing several goodwill letters to Ally bank. My letters were ignored so far and my phone calls were met with standard "we need to accurately report all history." Any recourse at this point?

welcome to CB!

 

 

what kind of an account? Perhaps your letters did not get to the correct person.

 

That said, how old are the lates?

[hdporter]

14 hours ago, patrickm89 said:

I've personally tried calling and writing several goodwill letters to Ally bank. My letters were ignored so far and my phone calls were met with standard "we need to accurately report all history." Any recourse at this point?

 

There's a relevant post over on the "other white meat" credit board that might provide some guidance:

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Ally-Auto-Loan-Goodwill-Letter-SUCCESS/td-p/6004754