Two special cases I could use your advice

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Thanks to all the excellent advice found on here, I'm on my way to repairing many of the mistakes I made a few years back.  I do have two cases I could use your advice on though:

1.) I had an auto loan with American Honda Finance that finished in 2006.  I had set up the account to automatically debit my account.  There was an issue with their system processing my final payment, but I didn't get any notice until it was 60 days late from a CA.  After supplying AHF with payment information, the agent said he would remove the negative information from my credit report because he agreed they should have contacted me before it got to 60 days late -- and that the problem with the system was not my fault.  Should I try to contact AHF on the phone or send them a goodwill letter?  

2.) Last month I neglected to pay my Bank of America card by mistake.  I didn't notice this until I'd paid for this month.  I fear that I might have gone 30 days past due by the time my payment was received though.   I'd like to make sure this mistake doesn't end up on my credit.  Has anyone had any success talking to agents into keeping these off their reports?  

Thank you! 

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the forums!

I would contact AHF about the issue by phone first.  Hopefully someone made annotations on your account after you spoke with them and they will fix it.

If you get nowhere, start sending GW letters.

Call BOA and explain the situation to them.  If you have had good payment history with them maybe they will not report a late.

[Anonymous]

Hi Guiness,

Thanks for your advice. I've contacted both AHF & BOA.  There was no issue for BOA -- they even offered to credit the late fee back to my account without me asking! 

I'm not so lucky for AHF so far.  They claim they have records stating that they'd called me repeatedly about not be able to process the payment and that they'd even talked to me on the phone a few times without me paying.  I know for certain this is not true -- when they first got a hold of me I paid the remaining amount immediately.  The rep said she would talk to her supervisor and contact me tomorrow.  Assuming that doesn't work, I will try GW letters per your advice.  Since I dispute this charge, I can file a dispute with EQ correct?  It seems as if the dispute might not work as well if they claim to have "proof" they called me.

Have a great night! 

[Anonymous]

I would not file a dispute....wait to see if they get back to you. IF they do not or if they will not delete then I would write a letter with what happened. Mail it to the address on your CR.

[RobertEG]

If you had an automated payment plan with them, that is a contract for guaranteed payment that you would only be in default of should they charge the authoirized payment, and your bank funds rejected it.  That is apparently not the case.

If their system screwed up, there is NO NEED for you to ask fhem for any good will. 

They should be apologizing to you, and asking for your good will in your not disputing inaccurate reporting under FCRA 611(a), and damaging your credit score!!!!