Wasn't exactly sure how to word the title without stuffing too much into it or making it sound too cryptic. Consider this a small success story and a possible data point for trying to get older late payments on Capital One accounts to disappear.
I recently sent dispute letters (specifically physical letters, nothing done online so they'd have more of an obligation to actually process it versus risk being auto-closed by a bot) to The Big Three requesting proof of a late payment on my Capital One Kohl's card (from almost four years ago). If they could not provide that information, nor if could provide documentation explaining how that conclusion was made, remove the remark.
It was a swing for the fences for sure, but here's how it turned out.
TransUnion sent me all sorts of information in two separate envelopes: the first was several pages on how they handle disputes, and the second was an acknowledgment of my dispute. Given that they showed up out of order, I suspect these letters were entirely automated after reading and processing mine. Equifax and Experian sent nothing.
After a few weeks, I got an alert saying my scores had changed. All three of my scores went up by 20-30 points. About a week later, I got another letter from TransUnion with the dispute results. What they sent showed the last 2 years of payments, none of which were late. Everything older than 24 months was updated to "no data" or otherwise blank. Experian and Equifax did the same, except they didn't send me anything in the mail.
TL;DR:
- Sent a physical letter to try and get a 30-day late from ~ four years ago removed through a technicality (long shot).
- Of the Big Three, only TransUnion ever sent anything back in the mail. EQ and EX never said a word to me in writing.
- All three updated my report in my favor because Capital One only ever responded to them with the last two years of payments. They didn't bother with anything older than that, so the bureaus had to update their records accordingly to reflect the lack of data.
- This caused my late payment to drop off and my scores to climb upwards of 20-30 points across all flavors.
- Even though EQ and EX did not respond or send any info, their records reflect the account in the same way.
Before => After (F8):
- Equifax: 748 => 779
- Experian: 738 => 763
- Transunion: 758 => 771
EQ8: 779 (Inq: 1) | TU8: 771 (Inq: 0) | EX8: 763 (Inq: 4)
Total Rev: $182,500
