I was/am in that situation.
I disputed some 2008 lates in 2011..with little to no success. But my scores gradually rose so when I applied for my first mortgage in mid-Nov 2013, my scores were all 740-760. My first lender said I had to have all these old dispute comments removed. I thought no harm here....so I called each bureau and they removed them instantly. My fico score here dropped to 699! But I also had these comments reappear. It seems after the bureau removes comments, they send notification to the creditor. When the creditor responds, notations is made that essentially puts the word 'dispute' back in the comments.
I asked my new lender about it and he said dont worry about it. Because the accounts were all 0 balance, removing the comments wasnt even necessary.
My problem is that I will not let my new lender pull my scores until they are at least 720. My scores sat at 699 for 2 weeks! 2 accounts that I paid off hit my report and its now at 712. I have one more paid account that will hit on Friday that Im hoping will take me to 720. But now interest rates have risen! So when I interviewed this new lender in late November when my score was 699 he quoted me 4.875. Now 1 month later the rate for 720+ scores is 4.875!!!! So waiting to get up to 720 has hurt me...
