New and have questions

[Ineedaname]

Hello, I've been lurking here for a while and have gained so much knowledge from everyone.  Thank you for being so generous with information!

So, I have questions . . .   A quick background:  I was divorced 5 years ago and left with a mountain of debt.  I've been working hard to bail myself out and see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

In my divorce agreement I was deeded our home, which I am now ready to sell.  My credit scores, however, are low (590, 592 and 612).  For debt I have my house, a home equity line, one credit card at its limit and another credit card which I'm at about 1% of the credit limit.  Due to family emergencies, holidays, etc.  I was late on my December mortgage payment to CitiMortgage and my home equity.  CitiMortgage was paid on the 31st of December and reported late, the home equity posted on January 9th. 

I called both places and inquired about how to remove the lates from those two payments.  Both companies said they could not.  My question is:  Is it possible to have the lates removed?  If so, how do you go about it? 

I also had a credit card that was settled.  I found on my report that it was reported twice, the company has agreed to remove one of the reporting.

Another credit card went to collection and was paid in full in February of this year.  On my report, the OC reported that I was late in February, March and April.  (I'm not sure how a late was reported for April, since I pulled my report on April 14th).  Anyway, I spoke with the collection agency and they said they would send me a letter and remove the lates.  I have yet to receive the letter.

With the above (duplicate reporting and removing the lates and reporting PIF), should my FICO score go up?  If so, when would I be able to see that?

Also, what are the chances of me qualifying for a mortgage with two recent late payments?

Any help/guidance would be appreciated.  Thank you!

[Shogun]

Most mortgage lenders like to see at least one full year of clean credit before they will loan.  You need to pay down the maxed cards and keep trying the GW method for those baddies.

[denver133]

Hello and welcome!!  

Sorry about your divorce.  Those can bring setbacks but it sounds like you are making progress.  

With your two credit cards, have one with a zero balance and the other bring down to under 20%.  That will give you a big boost in your score as the card which is at its limit isn't helping you.  

Start drafting up and sending out GW letters to Citi to have them remove the lates.  Explain the situations which caused you to be late and they might just remove them. 

For your credit card paid in full - You might need to file a complaint with the BBB in order to have them remove the lates.  State you were promised a letter that would state the lates were to be removed and they have not followed through.   They might delete the charge off.  

I would contact the company that was posting your settled credit card and have them remove BOTH!  How dare they report twice and do double damange.  File a dispute against them and you might have both removed.  

Your scores are very close.  You will see the biggest bump with you paying that maxed out CC. 

[Ineedaname]

Thank you so much for responding.  I already feel a little better.  Is it possible to have the mortgage companies remove the lates?  They both told me that they were legally obligated to keep the lates on the report.

[Shogun]

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@Ineedaname wrote:

Thank you so much for responding.  I already feel a little better.  Is it possible to have the mortgage companies remove the lates?  They both told me that they were legally obligated to keep the lates on the report.

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They are not legally obligated to keep anything on the report.  There is no mandate that says anything has to be reported.  They just to have to make sure anything that IS reportEd is accurate.  They could provide no data during that time frame and it would be fine.