Late fees - help!

[ShootingForTheStarsOr800]

Hey folks,

Thanks in advance for the help. I've been helping my family (and myself) rebuild credit for the past 4 months. In that time I've gone from $2000 in available credit to $16000 and am consistently seeing score increases. I decided to see how my brother was doing and got dropped with this bombshell. He currently has two Cap One cares one with a 2k limit and the other with a 2.5k limit and he is currently maxed on both (2221 and 2752). Apparently his job cut back on business and he's has been struggling for the past 6 months (late payment fees asses each month) but hasn't made a payment for the past three months on either card because of the paralyzingly feeling that comes with debt (we have all been there). He needs to make $237 and $399 on the two cards by Feb 9 to bring the accounts current. Now. I am in the position to help make these payments so he doesn't get them charged off and truly eff up his credit for the next 7 years. My questions to all are these.

1) Has anyone had major success getting late fees removed or reduced from capital one via chat when explains circumstances? Had success with BOA years ago but unsure with CapOne.
2) I'm thinking that we can keep the cards current for three months and get some score increases potentially when utitilization is brought to 75% or less for those three months. Would it do well to apply for two new accounts and not use them so we can decrease overall utilization quickly. Let those report for three months and then get a 0% balance transfer card and get these balances off Capone and pay down over the year? He's incurring 80+ a month in interest fees. Any help is certainly appreciated.

[Creditaddict]

1. You probably can get 1 maybe 2 late fees credited if you call and offer to make a payment in full for all past due with fee waiver and provide account to pull payment on spot.

2. bringing his accounts current and paid down to 75% likely will help him very little in the short term since he probably dropped 50+ points by going late 60-90 days. I wouldn't count on applying for anything new

[Chris679]

Unfortunately the answer I think the answer is no to both. Maybe you could get 1 30 day late refunded but I think that ship has sailed. The multiple lates on two accounts are going to keep him from being approved for a new card. Need to buckle down and pay them off asap.

[KSK1912]

OP sorry to hear  about the hardship of your brother. One thing you really need to avoid is, At least back in mid 2000's, Portfolio Recovery Assoc. was the collection agency for Cap One and if the accounts end up with them, it will be a huge battle to get those removed from the credit report even if the accounts are paid in full. They are the worst CA in the country to deal with. That being said, my recommendation would be contacting EO for the Cap One. Explain them the situation, ask for apr reduction at least until the accounts are brought down in balance. Even though this is not 100% guarantee that it will work, it would still be your best bet. Once the account balances are brought down, than after several months of on time payment, then i would contact EO again for the removal of the late accounts from the credit report. During our first contact, you can also ask them to see if they could help with any of the late fees. They are usually known to help people with similar situations and as long as you make clear that the 2 accounts with Cap One are very important and you would do anything you can to keep them happy, i believe you wouldget some sort of positive outcome.

[bch238]

That's a tough situation, and I sympathize.  But he needs to be realistic.  He's beyond maxed out on two cards; he has gone over his credit line on both cards.  He has two very recent 90 day late payments.  There is no chance of him opening a few accounts in the next few months simply by reducing his utilization on those cards.  As soon as he makes a payment below limit, the limit on each card may even be reduced (balance chasing) so that he will still be at or near 100% utilization.  The damage to his credit is done already.  Getting more credit (two cards that he won't use just for utilization purposes and a balance transfer card) isn't realistic.

[Anonymous]

Good job helping your family with their credit.
If the baddies were reported to the CRA, I don't think anyone will extend him credit right now. IMO his focus should be on bringing his accounts current and decreasing his utilization. Best of luck to your brother!

[ScoreOrBeScored]

sorry to say, but the damage is done already...maybe the first Late could've been forgiven, but when it happens back to back 

multiple times , it's clear it wasn't a over sight but there is a financial struggle.

and you my friend, you are climbing into a sinking ship. You need to decide if your going to go down with it or save yourself.

dont get yourself into a bind trying to save someone that can't be saved at this point..... I know your intentions in helping is good......

but it please be careful. If your in a position financially to help out then more power to you. But he should've been more responsible and 

asked for help when his job cut back before all this happened. At least you could've made at least the min payments for him until he got back 

on his feet. What your about to pay now could've been over a year worth of min payments and saved YOU money and him the insertion of baddies.

good luck to you and hope you make a wise choice

[Anonymous]

If it were me, I would focus on paying the cards down as much as possible and contacting Cap1 about removal of any lates or negatives they are willing to listen to. You may have better luck after the cards are paid down some, I'm not sure. I don't think you'd have a good chance at more credit lines. The other thing to consider is that more credit will not help with his current situation. (BT maybe, but again, you won't get an approval with a limit high enough) Lowering UT will increase the score, but it dosen't lower balances. Score is moot at this point since a slight score increase won't help him to get a new account.

[Anonymous]

---

@beautifulblaquepearl wrote:
Good job helping your family with their credit.
If the baddies were reported to the CRA, I don't think anyone will extend him credit right now. IMO his focus should be on bringing his accounts current and decreasing his utilization. Best of luck to your brother!

---

+1

[ShootingForTheStarsOr800]

Thanks everyone for the advice and support. A little bit of an update. I spoke to a CSR last night who waived close to $200 in late fees provided that payments were made that day. We made the payments to bring the accounts current and the CSR said that payment protection has been on the plan so that if there are additional issues we should reach out. My brother has been a capital one customer for coming up on 10 years, so I think we will do what one of the contributors said and reach out to EO after some consistent payments to see if they can goodwill some of the delinquent payments since prior to this he has never been late and typically kept utilization below 25%.

Any other advice is greatly appreciated!