Stupid question, sorry!

[StarraeAday1]

First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone here. I'm recovering from a Chapter 7 BK discharged in April 2008, and the advice I've read here has been invaluable on my journey!

My stupid question is this: I have a 60 day late on a student loan through the government from December 2007 (right before the BK) that I've tried unsuccessfully to get GW'ed away. Does this just gradually stop affecting my score as much? Or is there a time frame when it "falls off", so to speak? Just wondering. Other than the BK itself and the accounts showing Included in Bankruptcy, this late pay is the only negative on my credit. Thanks!

Starla

EQ

4/24/09 ~ 620

9/24/09 ~ 642

10/27/09 ~ 645

11/8/09 ~ 665

TU

10/28/09 ~ 618

11/12/09 ~ 669 (Loan officer pull)

11/30 ~ 645

[Anonymous]

Time is your friend. They will hurt your score for the whole 7 years they are there. The older they get the less they hurt though. Then they will fall off 7 - 7.5 years later and will no longer hurt you.

[RobertEG]

You can never get an unpaid debt good-willed away.  You only good-will once you have satisfied a debt, and are seeking deletion from you CR due to  their good wiill recognition of your satisfaction of the payment of the debt.

A 60-day late will remain for 7 years,  It will deteriorte in impact over time, but only about 6-10 points a year for the first few years.

Dont let it become a charge off or collection, for then your  FICO nightmare will intensify drastically.

[Anonymous]

Have you brought the payments current since that time?

If so, the late does gradually affect you less and less.  After 4 years the age of the account will actually help FICO more than hurt due to the late.  However, this depends on whether you stay current and "as agreed" on other accounts.  If you have more recent lates, then the combination hurts.

If you have brought the payments current and have stayed current, then make sure to continue to do so.  Continue to send a GW occassionally to see if you can get lucky.  But from my reading, very few people succeed in GWs on SL's. 

The best "for sure medicine" is to stay clean now and let it age.  If you happen to luck out at some point with GW, that's the icing on the cake.  But the cake is to stay current, build new TL's  and let it all age.  There is no quick fixes to BK or derogs.

Good luck

[StarraeAday1]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Yes, the student loan is current (actually in forbearance right now, but I'm still making payments). It's my oldest account, from 2000, and I only owe around $650 on it now. Other than the BK itself, this 60-day late is the ONLY baddie I have right now, and I've been pretty successful recently in opening some new TL's. I have a $250 secured Visa through Orchard (used for gas only, PIF more often than once a month), and just got approved for $600 through GEMB/Walmart and $500 through GEMB/Amazon that I plan to use VERY sparingly and PIF every month. I think I'm well on my way, just wanted to ask about the effect of the late. I appreciate everyone's thoughts!

[aquatic1]

when you applied for GEMB/Amazon, what were your scores and what did they pull? 

[StarraeAday1]

So far the inq has only come through on TU. Per MyFico, my TU score was 645 on 11/30, and per LendingTree I had a FAKO TU of 651 on 12/11. I'm planning to give these accounts time to hit my report, and pull another TU and EQ in a month or so to see where I stand. According to the simulator, they should do nothing but help.

[catzcradle]

I just had a 60-day late turn two years old and my score went up around 50 pts with TU and almost 100 with EQ. Mine was from Nov 07 and it was the only late payment!

YMMV, but perhaps you will see a nice jump at two years yourself.

[StarraeAday1]

As I'm sitting right at the two year mark right now, I can only hope that perhaps my experience will be similar to yours. Thank for sharing!