30 day late reported

[Anonymous]

I just got a notification that I had a 30 day late reported from my VW auto loan!!!!! I have never been late. I just recently did a 2 month extension and still paid their fee of $224! I have no clue why it reported late the amount thats being reported late is the difference after the $224. I really hope this was a mistake on their part and can be fixed. I could just cry right now, we are in the middle of searching for a house and it just dropped my credit score 80 points. Im sure anyone can understand that gut wrenching feeling I have right now! Has anyone experienced this? And of course i have to wait till monday to call and ask during operating hours.

[Anonymous]

Either you were 30 days late or you weren't.  There's no gray area here.  You said you weren't 30 days late, so if your account was reported as such it was a mistake and the creditor will no doubt correct it for you if you bring it to their attention.  Once this happens, your score will be restored.  I understand that it's rough looking at that 80 point drop, but know you'll get those points back as quick as you lost them once the creditor fixes their inaccurate reporting.

[marty56]

I don't anything about VW credit but if they offered a skip pay, your payment would be 0 for that month.  Also check if there was a fee associcated with doing this since they can report late if you owe say $200 and pay $199.  I had multiple 120 day lates from BofA because of this.

You could try GW with them and worst case in 2 years your scores will recover.

[Anonymous]

I had never heard of a loan extension, so I didn't know what that meant.  I googled What is a loan extension...

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+a+loan+extension&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

and found that a loan extension is "A loan extension is an agreement between a borrower and a lender that generally will allow a borrower to miss some payments and those missed payments are put on the back end of the loan."

https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/what-is-the-difference-between-a-loan-extension-an-1763183.html

You may have actually missed some payments then.  The important thing to remember is that late payments involve two things: (1) fees that a creditor may charge you and risk that they could come after you -- this begins as soon as you are one day late (2) Reporting the fact of a missed payment to the credit bureau -- this begins 30 days after the first missed payment.  These two things are entirely separate.

It was unclear to me whether a creditor might report the missed payment (#2) in a loan extension agreement, so I googled how does a loan extension affect your credit report and found this

https://budgeting.thenest.com/requesting-loan-modification-affect-fico-22084.html

which includes this warning:  "This sometimes can be reported as a late or missed payment, however, which will damage your score."

My guess is that reporting the fact of your missed payment depends a lot on the lender.

If you call them today, be sure to mentally prepare beforehand so that you can be calm and friendly throughout the call.  Becoming frantic or angry will sharply lower your chance of getting the creditor to help you.  Gather info politely -- you can always call again after you have had time to think about it.

[Anonymous]

 This is a common question.

Asking a lender for extra time to make a payment does not prevent them from reporting it as late to the credit bureaus.  Any extension of payment timeframe just reduces the lender's late fees or may put off repossession until you're caught up.

Payment arrangements do NOT prevent reporting of lates to the bureaus.

Question: if you're searching for a house, why did you make a payment arrangement with the lender?

EDIT: It looks like VW offers a holiday "skip payment" arrangement (I found it on Google).  $25 fee lets you skip one holiday payment.  I would honestly be surprised if VW reported this as late.  I would start a letter writing campaign and saturate the lender with requests for clarification and correction.  This isn't a consumer-initiated payment arrangement but a lender offering.  I'd also write the FTC and CFPB immediately, as well as any state licensing and regulatory branches.  CC everyone and note the CC on each letter to the lender.

[RobertEG]

If the creditor extended the due date for the next payment, then there would be no reportable late, as a reportable late is defined by the CRAs as a payment that is made 30 days or more after the due date.

However, if they did not formally reset the due date, and only provided some leeway regarding late payments, such as waiving fees or not seeking repo of the vehicle, then a late may still be valid.

Did the grant of extension actually extend the due date for the next payment?

[Anonymous]

Your idea of calling them today is probably a very good one.  Just be sure to preapre for the call in two ways:

(1) Gather as much information as you can before you call about what you have done up till this point.  That might include your notes on what the loan extension agreement was, any formal documentation you received from them about it, when you worked out that agreement with them, how you worked it out, the date that your last full payment was made, and the date that the first Day 30 late payment appeared.

(2) Prepare mentally and emotionally before the call so that you can be relaxed, calm, and friendly while you are speaking with the rep.  As I mentioned earlier, don't blow a fuse or get otherwise angry or frantic as you speak with them.  Just gather information and take careful notes.

You can circle back with the folks here tomorrow when you know more.

[marty56]

One thing to check.  my CU will adjust the next due date if you do skip pay so this should have been reflected both online when it shows the next payment due date or the statement for the month you skipped it.

[Anonymous]

UPDATE: So I talked to VW and yes they do loan extensions and yes they do go to the end of your loan agreement. The reason for it I shouldn't have to explain but if it was an available option and I can finish paying off my school loans then that's what I will do. Anyways, my payment is due on 17th of every month and the agreement was done on the 9th ,they sent me a letter to agree to the fee they still charge and that extended my loan agreement one more month. So I received the letter and sent in straight back via secured VW email. The lady seen where they received it on the 10th but for some reason it was not fowarded on to the correct dept. With that said it will be corrected and 30 day will be removed in 10-15 days. My question is now does anyone have prior experience with how much your score will come back up after a 30 day is removed?? My score dropped a total of 37-47 points between all 3 CB will I get those points back??

[Anonymous]

Yes once they remove it you will get any points lost back, assuming those points were all lost due to the 30D and not also anything else negative like higher utilization posting at the same time.

Nice work getting them to fix it!