How do I delete a late mortgage payment from my credit?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

In the month of October, I was out of the country for a month for work.  I mailed my mortgage payment and the bank never received the payment.  When I returned from my trip, I got a call from the bank.  I immediately paid the payment but it was already too late and the payment was 30 days past due.  The bank then reported the item as a negative item on my credit.  I have spoken to many people at the bank, all the way to the CEO of the company.  They will not remove the negative reporting and claim that they are required by law to do the reporting and are unable to remove the item.

I will be gratefull for any input I might receive in removing this item.  This has affected my credit severly.  I must also add that I have mortgages for the last 25 years and have never had a 30 day past due payment.

Thanks!

[RobertEG]

It might not be productive to argue their statement that they are required by law to report, but it is not an accurate statement.

Any credit reporitng is optional on the part of a creditor.

The two statutory requirments are set forth in FCRA 623(a)(1) and (2), which stipulate that any reporting must not knowiingly be inaccurate, and that once reported, the fiurnisher has a continuing obligation to update the information so as to maint its current accuracy.

The only "requimrent" is CRA policy, as included in their credit reporiting manuals, instructiing furnishers not to delete based on payement of a debt.

Technically, that does not strictly apply to late payments, although the reason behind non-deletion would still apply.  The CRAs want complete credit histories, not subjective removal of accurate information.

If you can dialog with them in a non-confrontational manner, then it might be productive to discuss their assertion.

Bottom line is that they need no reason to decline, and clearly not deleting can be asseerted to be in the best interests of the system, as it provides accurate and more objective histories to others.

[bdhu2001]

If your file isn't thin, the 30 day late won't affect your credit for that long.  If there isn't something you need to apply for right away, approach them; but otherwise let it ride.  

When something similar happened to me, I eventually re-financed with another lender to get rid of it.  You may want to set up the account on auto-pay and in two to three months, reach out to them again the a GW letter or e-mail.

[Anonymous]

I was in the process of refinancing when this negative reporting occured.  I actually finish the refinancing in the next couple of days.  At this point, they have made it very clear that they will not reverse the negative reporting.  This will be especially true once the loan is paid off in the next couple of days.

Should I dispute the late reporting with the credit reporting agency when my refinance with the new bank is completed? Does your credit take a hit when there is a dispute? Am I better off leaving this alone now since the mortgage is going to be paid off?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

For starters - there is NOTHING to dispute - it really was late.

All you can do is see if they will GOODWILL delete it - if not - you're stuck with it.   You actually made the payment late, therefore it is reporting correctly.

[bdhu2001]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was in the process of refinancing when this negative reporting occured.  I actually finish the refinancing in the next couple of days.  At this point, they have made it very clear that they will not reverse the negative reporting.  This will be especially true once the loan is paid off in the next couple of days.

Should I dispute the late reporting with the credit reporting agency when my refinance with the new bank is completed? Does your credit take a hit when there is a dispute? Am I better off leaving this alone now since the mortgage is going to be paid off?

Thanks!

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Yes.  You're better leaving it alone.  I did my refinance when late stayed on over 7 years.  I think it was 10 years.  Back then when I pointed out that even a bankruptcy wouldn't still be showing on my records.  Their statement was that since it was a current account, they could continue to report the late.  I refinanced and it dropped off immediately, but it dropped off due to the age of the late and it no longer being a current account.