OP- that is a hard lesson learned, I am sorry. So you missed 1 month off a payment with amex, I would think by month two they would be trying to contact you via email or alerts? How many months did this go on for?
To me, when you are rebuilding credit or have established credit especially with a lot of accounts, it is good to routinely check on them. I tend to OCD check on them a lot because it is so simple with how I have it set up on my computer.
I manage a lot of cards, between student loan payments and credit cards, bills that come from rent to cell phone, I am checking my accounts a lot of ensure whats up with them. Twice this year I entered payment infomation wrong upon setup on two cards. I tend to pay my card balances or as much as I can once the statment cuts and it says due, this way if I have any problems. My payment is not going to be late because within a few days, I will see that the money is not withdrawn from my account or the online site says payment due still.
I am assuming they closed your card with a 30, 60 day late(s) on it? That can tank your fico as we know. If you can explain this to amex, call them and see what their credit department is willing to do. Otherwise, those lates are going to haunt your score for at least 2 years. Sorry for the long post but unless you can goodwill amex or get them to work with you somehow, I can't see a way to boost the score.
