First late payment in 25 years of credit history....now what?

[Anonymous]

My credit score up until about 2 months ago always ranged from the mid to high 700s. Recently, I had a 30 day late payment report go onto my credit report. There was about $150 left on one of my credit card accounts that I mistakingly thought was paid off in full. It wasn't until after 30 days past due, I realized the error. I called the credit card company and pleaded to remove it as it was a misunderstanding but did not have any luck! As a result of this one ding on my report, my scores dropped to the 690-710 range. I have over 25 years of good credit history and not once have I ever missed a payment until now. I understand this will stay on my report for 7 years, however, my question is this. Is my credit score permanently damaged for the next 7 years? Barring everything else stays the same, will my score eventually come back up on its own in due time? Perhaps a year from now, maybe?

Thank you!

[nycfico]

Technically speaking, yes, your credit will take a hit for 7 years.

HOWEVER, it won't matter much in any practical sense so long as you continue to not be late with anything else.  Your score will rebound very quickly, and while I don't think you can quite get to a 'perfect' credit score until that 30 day late falls off, after two years it should have very minimal impact...and even after a few months, you are going to see your scores rebound dramatically from where they are right at this moment.

Some have even said that a 30 day late only hurts while it is still open...I have my doubts about that...but it will be very minor.

Think about FICO as a predictive algorithim...which is what it is.  Somebody with a 25 year credit history with no problems except for 1 30 day late which is no longer late...what are the chances that person is going to get into serious credit problems?  Very small...practically the same as one with no 30 days lates with the same length of credit history.

[grillandwinemaster]

While you won't achieve a perfect score, you can get into the 800's score range with one lonely, single 30 day late. Back in the 90's I used to run credit checks on people looking for service with our company and I recall a customer scoring in the 800 range and she had one single, solitary 30 day late on her otherwise impeccable credit history. 

Of course, all other things are considered on each individual credit profile. 

[Thomas_Thumb]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My credit score up until about 2 months ago always ranged from the mid to high 700s. Recently, I had a 30 day late payment report go onto my credit report. There was about $150 left on one of my credit card accounts that I mistakingly thought was paid off in full. It wasn't until after 30 days past due, I realized the error. I called the credit card company and pleaded to remove it as it was a misunderstanding but did not have any luck! As a result of this one ding on my report, my scores dropped to the 690-710 range. I have over 25 years of good credit history and not once have I ever missed a payment until now. I understand this will stay on my report for 7 years, however, my question is this. Is my credit score permanently damaged for the next 7 years? Barring everything else stays the same, will my score eventually come back up on its own in due time? Perhaps a year from now, maybe?

Thank you!

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A single 30 day late will affect score for 2 years. There should be no impact on Fico score after that time but, it will remain on your credit report. Not sure how impact declines over the 2 year period but, don't count on a a complete rebound until the two year mark.

[RushXTC]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My credit score up until about 2 months ago always ranged from the mid to high 700s. Recently, I had a 30 day late payment report go onto my credit report. There was about $150 left on one of my credit card accounts that I mistakingly thought was paid off in full. It wasn't until after 30 days past due, I realized the error. I called the credit card company and pleaded to remove it as it was a misunderstanding but did not have any luck! As a result of this one ding on my report, my scores dropped to the 690-710 range. I have over 25 years of good credit history and not once have I ever missed a payment until now. I understand this will stay on my report for 7 years, however, my question is this. Is my credit score permanently damaged for the next 7 years? Barring everything else stays the same, will my score eventually come back up on its own in due time? Perhaps a year from now, maybe?

Thank you!

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Go on CreditKarma and request to have the late payment removed. I did that for my GF and 1 of the creditors removed it, I believe TransUnion.

[pipeguy]

If it was me, I'd plead my case with the card company, and go higher than the CSR you get on the phone - most companies will remove a single late if you have a history with that company and an otherwise clean report. Some lenders such as PenFed won't, but I'd keep calling until I got to the CEO or EO and then if it's still "no", I'd cancel any card or business with that company. 25 years of perfect history and a single accidental ding on a small amount, plead your case to someone that can change the report. I'd probably cancel the card anyway, but not until they remove the ding.  

[Anonymous]

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@nycfico wrote:

Technically speaking, yes, your credit will take a hit for 7 years.

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This is not accurate.  If by "take a hit" you mean his score, that is not the case.  30 day late payments will only impact a score for up to 2 years, even though they are visible on credit reports for 5 years longer than that.  With a strong credit profile (hearty AAoA) which I'm assuming the OP has without actually stating it based on 25 years of positive history, I'd imagine that 75% of that ding to his scores will be gone within 1 year.

OP, if you don't mind me asking who was the creditor you were late with.  When you say you have 25 years of perfect history, how many years do you have on the account you were 30 days late on?  Is that your only account with that creditor or have you had others (possibly older) as well?

If you write a goodwill letter I'm fairly confident that you could get that late payment removed, and depending on the creditor it could actually be quite easy.  If you can provide a little more information here we'll give you better direction.

[Anonymous]

The creditor was Fifth Third Bank.  I've had various accounts with them since 2008.  This particular account was on a Fifth Third credit card that I've had opened for about 3 years.  It's a card I rarely used, sans a few times.  It simply wasn't on my radar and I take ownership of that.  Trust me when I say I went all the way up the chain of command, to the lead manager of the call center to plead my case.  They listened to the tapes of a conversation I had with a customer service agent on the day that I thought it was paid.  In their eyes, there wasn't enough evidence to show any wrong doing on their part.  To make a long story short, I missed a payment on it by a few days (again it wasn't a primary card on my radar, I own that).  I called the call center and politely apologized.  They reversed the late payment penalty as a courtesy (but the minimum payment was still due).  At the same time, I was mistaken that he also processed the minimum payment that was due.  He did not, because apparently I didn't ask him to.  About 5 days after the 30 day late point, I paid the card off in full, thinking I wiped my hands clean of it, not knowing I was late!.  Flash foward two months later, I was out shopping for a car and I was being presented with pretty crappy financing terms (which I thought was strange) so I decided to run my credit and bam...that's when I discovered the issue.

Someone suggested creditkarma.com?  Otherwise thanks for all the awesome feedback!

[Anonymous]

If I were you I'd still try to get it removed, but I'd recommend letters over the phone call method.  Written record, you can take your time and say exactly what you want... proof read it and make sure it comes across exactly the way you intend it etc.  Just make sure you apologize, take ownership of the mistake, explain how it won't ever happen again, and somehow give them a hope that you'll be a profitable customer for them going forward.  In the past I've told creditors that I'm requesting GW from that I'm considering applying for a [credit card, mortgage, auto loan] with them, but because of the late payment on my account and hit to my credit scores I'm a bit uncomfortable doing so.  I suggest to them that if they consider removing the late payment, I'd then apply for whatever with them and continue being a profitable customer to their business.  This has worked twice for me, so far.

[Anonymous]

I have a good feeling you can get it removed using methods all mentioned here.

IF anything .. you can get it remove from at least 1 of the credit agencies