Is this hurting my score?

[Anonymous]

I sold my home almost five years ago and paid off the mortgage to BOA in full.  Prior to the payoff, there were four late payments that were reported to all three CB's.  BOA is reporting a $0 balance, four late payments, paid in full in 2003, and current status 30 days past due.  Is the reporting of the current status as 30 days past due hurting my FICO score?  I disputed it with EQ saying I could not be currently past due on an account paid in full with a $0 balance.  It came back verified.

If it is hurting my score, what can I now do?  In addition to the dispute, I also tried a goodwill letter to BOA which did not help.

Thanks

[Junejer]

I can tell you from personal experience that the derogatory status is hurting your scores. I had a 30 day status erroneously reporting on an old mortgage that wasn't ever past due. When I got that situation corrected, my EQ/TU rose by 26 and 43 points respectively. Had you brought it current prior to paying it off, that status would not look that way. Also, by disputing it, you may have brought the derogatory item "current". In other words, it will "feel" (in your score) like it's more current than the 5 yrs that it really is.

[Anonymous]

yep, will hurt for 7 years. Keep trying to work with BOA to remove lates.

[haulingthescoreup]

I have a closed 20-year-old gas card on EX only. We closed it, silly us, because we kept missing the statement in the mail. We live on a busy highway, with a mailbox far from the house, and this was pre-computer days.

The last payment we made when we closed it was late, and the stinkin' 30 day status shows on our reports. I'm not about to mess with it, as the history helps much more than the late hurts, but it annoys the heck out of me every time I see it.

Moral of the story: whenever you close an account, no matter how furious you might be with them, get it completely current first, keep it open one more month, and then close it.

[Anonymous]

Or better yet, don't close the account at all.  Unless the card charges an annual fee, don't ever close them.  Let the card issuer do it, if anyone does.

I closed a 1987 Discover back in 2002 - dumb dumb dumb.  But it still remains on my EX report, but not on the others.   

A good lesson learned by alot of us.