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This might be a little long, but please bear with me...
Been married 18 years. Collectively, our credit rating has been anywhere between 730 - 800 (through May of last year). I deployed overseas a month prior (April). The following month (May), my wife lost her full-time job. Anticipating a bit of financial hurt, she contacted our mortgate lender (Wells Fargo) to negotiated a TEMPORARY (six month ) reduction on our mortgage payments until she got back on her feet. They agreed, and she paid the lower amount for the next six months. When I returned from my deployment, I found that those six months of reduced payments had accumulated to 120 days of past-due. I immediately called the bank and paid the remaining amount, and our account has been current since then (October of 2012).
Second problem: Back in September, my wife called Chase to setup automatic payments for a credit card that we closed -- apparently there was a breakdown in communication somewhere (I don't know if it was my wife or the bank), but Chase wasn't getting automatically paid and that account went 90 days overdue. They called me, and I corrected the situation (confirmed by the last two bank statements).
So here's my dilemna: I've got two accounts (1 mortgage, and 1 credit) that are showing "current" but (for obvious reasons) are showing a history of "past-due." Is there any way I can clear this up with the Credit Agencies? Can I get this removed?
On the one-hand, I've got a "past-due" in my history because (perhaps) my wife didn't LISTEN to the bank official who, I assume, informed her that a temporary adjustment in our payments would affect our credit rating.
On the other, we incurred another "past due" because my wife (speaking with an individual who's first language ISN'T English) mistakenly thought an automatic payment was setup.
Both accounts are currently listed as current in all three of our credit files. Is there any way we can migate this disaster?
I pulled a FICO on the both of us and I'm now currently 531, 562, and 592 (she's 518, 533, and 578, respectively).
I know staying the course (continuting to pay our bills on time), will, over time, boost our credit score, but I was wonder if there was something we could to speed up the process. We have a long-established (18 year) history of paying our bills ontime and I'd hate to thing that a few months could destroy all of that.
I would start a GW campaign and explain your situation....I would say you have a good chance on getting this items removed.
I'm not familiar with all the details but is there perhaps a way that the Serviceman's Debt Relief Act could provide help since you were deployed at the time. Check with your bases Family Services organization for help. Goodwill pleas with the creditors may work too.
Were you active duty when you deployed or reserve/guard who deployed?
SCRA only covers debt incurred before going on Active Duty.