I need some advice to possibly salvage my credit. I am a subcontractor and was hired by a contractor to do a job, only for the contractor to file BK. Not only did I not receive payment for a month's work, I was also left with $12,000 in material bills and payroll costs for this job which I am trying to repay. I was late on a Home Depot credit card and a US Bank creditline in July and August of 2010. In September I contacted Home Depot and set up reduced automatic payments for 6 months and they would waive the late fees. At the same time I contacted US Bank and was told if I agreed to make 3 consecutive payments, on time, they would add the past due amount back into my balance and bring my account up to date and also waive the fees. I went to the bank to get an ATM card for my teenage daughter to access her savings account and was denied because of my credit score. I couldn't believe it so I came home and immediately went online to get a copy of my credit report. To my horror, The Home Depot and US Bank reported on 30-days late on my accounts, EVERY MONTH, since September of 2010. It dropped my credit score from almost 700 to 539. I did not even realize I had a past due amount of $90 on my home depot account and assumed when I made the payment arrangement they would deduct enough from my checking account to cover what was due. I immediately went online and paid the past due amount, but when I contacted them to have the late payment reports removed from my credit, they said no. Also, at the end of the 3 months of payments to US Bank they told me I actually had to make 4 payments in a row, which I did, and they still have a past due balance showing on my account and are telling me they can't help me at all. Any and all advice is welcome.
