@Anonymous wrote:
A secured card had a 3.00 balance on it. I didnt pay it and left it there for 2 months I guess and they reported it as late paymen. I went from a 680 to a 620 now, What do I do.
Not much you can do. It it was late for 2 months then it will get reported and it will have a significant impact. All you can do is request goodwill removal but they are under no obligation to remove valid data.
Make sure you understand the differences between carry and report. You never need to carry a balance for scoring purposes. You can pay a statement balance in full and have a balance report. It's a matter of when you pay the statement balance in full versus the report date. Pay the balance in full by the report date and no balance report. Pay after it reports and a balance will report. Carefully read up and research on this before you try to optimize your revolving utilization. Ask us questions. We're happy to help you sort out the details if you don't understand. You don't need to optimize unless you're ready to apply for new credit, CLI's, etc. Just generally keep it under 30%.
When carrying a balance you must make at least the minimum payment to keep your account current. Your statements will indicate this. If you do not make at least the minimum then you are late. You want to do whatever it takes to avoid lates and other derogs. Keep in mind that these impact Payment History which is the biggest factor for FICO.
http://www.myfico.com/crediteducation/whatsinyourscore.aspx
You should be actively monitoring all open accounts. 2 months is a very long time to leave such a small balance that is now going to count as a late. Granted, a 30 day late would also hurt but you should have been able to catch this well before it even went 30 days late or even past the payment due date. Reconsider how you're monitoring and managing your accounts to avoid this in future.
@Anonymous wrote:
All this work just went down the drain. Now Im tempted to cancel the card and tell them to get bent. Please help!
Calm down and think about it instead of reacting emotionally. It's a setback but it's not "all down the drain". In your signature you indicate that you started with 10 derogs and got 8 deleted. Even with 1 new one you're still at a point where you have 7 less derogs than when you started.
Closing won't improve things for you and may make your revolving utilization worse (you can do the math to verify). You didn't pay. It's not the card or the creditor that is the issue. Learn from your mistake and do whatever it takes to avoid this sort of thing in future.
@Anonymous wrote:
They said they wont remove it because I knew it was there even though I explained to them that it was done purposely.
Hopefully you just chose the wrong words. What you're stating above is that you intentionally went delinquent. Don't say that to the creditor. It will not help you.
It may have been done intentionally but it was done so on a misunderstanding.
