I dropped my pistol off at a gunsmith to be modified while I was in Iraq...I gave him my credit card number, and when my mom picked it up for me a few months later, he charged my card. No big deal, that's what we'd planned on.

The problem is that I have 2 credit cards, and I didn't use that one at all while I was in Iraq, so I didn't really pay much attention to it. I'd forgotten that the gunsmith was going to make that charge on there, and I forgot my password to the account after a few months, and it's a pain to handle that in Iraq without a phone. Well, yesterday I got a call from Chase trying to resolve the overdue payment (that I didn't know I had), which I paid on the spot. Again, no big deal.

The problem is that I'm trying to buy a house, and I don't want a late credit card payment on my record when trying to go get a loan. Who do I contact to try and get it expunged?

4/12/2009 12:26:02 PM

You can try to contact the CEO or higher up at the credit card company to try and get a goodwill removal of the late fee. Try to google the bank's name and "goodwill" and it will probably yield you an address to contact.

4/12/2009 12:28:47 PM

first of all - have you checked your credit report to see if it's on there?

otherwise...so you had a late payment and don't want anyone to know? i would think everyone in your situation would want the same - if everyone could have it expunged wouldn't everyone just have a great credit report?

4/12/2009 12:29:40 PM

talk to customer service, then escalate if you need to.

4/12/2009 12:38:15 PM

^^^ it's not the late fee I care about (and I got that dropped already, just by asking)

^^ exactly.

but in my defense, it was kind of a freak thing for an odd reason--I never even carry a balance on a card, much less pay anything late.

4/12/2009 12:44:10 PM

I don't think it will be worth the hassle to expunge one late payment, even if it is possible.

4/12/2009 12:44:43 PM

^^sorry, I didnt mean to say fee...meant to say to get the late notation removed from your report.


go to creditboards.com and they have a whole forum dedicated to this sort of thing.

4/12/2009 12:46:23 PM

Quote :

" You: “Hi, I noticed I missed a payment, and I wanted to confirm that this won’t affect my credit score.” Credit Card rep: “Let me check on that. No, the late fee will be applied, but it won’t affect your credit score.” (If you pay within a few days of your missed bill, it usually won’t be reported to the credit agencies. Call them to be sure.) You: “Thank you! I’m really happy to hear that. Now, about that fee…I understand I was late, but I’d like to have it waived.” Credit Card rep: “Why?” You: “It was a mistake and it won’t happen again, so I’d like to have the fee removed.” (Always end your sentence with strength. Don’t say, “Can you remove this?” Say, “I’d like to have this removed.” At this point, you have a better-than-50-percent chance of getting the fee credited to your account. But just in case you get an especially tough rep, here’s what to say.) Credit Card rep: “I’m very sorry, but we can’t refund that fee. I can try to get you our latest blah blah marketing pitch blah blah…” You: “I’m sorry, but I’ve been a customer for four years and I’d hate for this one fee to drive me away from your service. What can you do to remove the late fee?” Credit Card rep: “Hmm . . . Let me check on that. . . . Yes, I was able to remove the fee this time. It’s been credited to your account.” "

4/12/2009 1:01:50 PM

^thats pretty much what i did a few years back to get a late payment fee credited back to my account.

4/12/2009 2:02:48 PM

Most of the time if you arent 30 days past due on stuff it wont show up on your credit report, Ive been late on tons of payments whether by overlooking them or for some good reason and the only one I ever saw actually show up was one that I was more than 30 days late on. If this is the case good luck getting that taken off.

4/12/2009 2:04:22 PM

i've been late by a few days a handful of times and it never showed up on any of the 3 reports

[Edited on April 12, 2009 at 2:06 PM. Reason : of course i never got to the point where they contacted me about it so i can't say how that'll apply]

4/12/2009 2:05:21 PM

When I was processing loans, I didnt really care about one late payment...you would have to have 3 or worse (90 days late+) for like 4 or 5 months or show a history of being at least 90 days before I asked about it. If it is just one month and your other card is fine, I wouldnt think you have a problem. If both cards show a history of 90 days or more late payments, then you would have something to worry about.

[Edited on April 12, 2009 at 3:53 PM. Reason : w]

4/12/2009 3:52:51 PM

yeah, this was about 45 days late. it should be the only blemish on my credit. i'm not worried about not getting a loan, i'm concerned with getting the lowest possible interest rate.

4/12/2009 5:20:22 PM

call them up, explain situation, make sure to throw in you were in Iraq at the time, get them to remove it.

4/12/2009 5:29:23 PM

I guess I should clarify: I already talked the rep from Chase. She said it had already been reported, so I'd have to contact the credit bureau.

I don't even know where to start to do that.

[Edited on April 12, 2009 at 5:49 PM. Reason : maybe it would be worth calling Chase back and talking to a different rep.]

4/12/2009 5:49:25 PM

ask for the goodwill thing

4/12/2009 6:03:40 PM

i had a similar incident (i wasn't in iraq or anything) but i had the cc company to take it off of the credit report.

4/12/2009 7:03:58 PM

[Edited on April 12, 2009 at 8:01 PM. Reason : we'll see how calling works]

4/12/2009 8:00:34 PM

Threaten to cancel the card, and see what they do. Always works.

4/12/2009 10:52:47 PM

dont let anyone diminish this too much. i had a late payment from when i was in highschool and had a card for emergencies (used it only a handful of times). it was in my name, but my mom handled it. it went in late once and is still on my credit score. only 1 of the bureaus has it but my score is nearly 100 points less there.

i didnt really check my credit a lot as an 18 year old so i didnt know about it until i started applying for cards again (used debit only pretty much through college).

4/12/2009 10:56:23 PM

Here's a quick and easy fix: pay off all of your revolving debt and leave it at zero for a month prior to applying for credit.

The newly inflated credit/debt ratio will more than offset the late payment penalty to your credit score.


P.S. Quit being a little bitch and cough up the $40 to check your credit at http://www.myfico.com. It will be like mommy checking your closet for monsters and you'll realize you have no problem getting a good interest rate. Or, on the other hand, you'll find out that you've been a complete financial dillweed and now have to pay the piper for all your missteps.

[Edited on April 12, 2009 at 11:20 PM. Reason : s]

4/12/2009 11:17:25 PM

are you a gigantic dick in every thread you post in or just some of them?

4/12/2009 11:46:58 PM

i just can't believe this kid is still crying over this and he hasn't even checked to see if its an issue



what a waste of everyone's time. just check your damn credit score and put this issue to bed!

[Edited on April 12, 2009 at 11:55 PM. Reason : s]

4/12/2009 11:52:08 PM

^I'd have to agree here... He should at least check his report and see if it's even on there. 45 days is not that long, I'll bet it was never reported.

4/13/2009 7:59:57 AM

even if he knows it was reported, he still needs to check to be sure of the impact. None of us can give him the information he's looking for.

I am beginning to think this thread is just a <blog> in disguise

[Edited on April 13, 2009 at 8:01 AM. Reason : s]

4/13/2009 8:01:26 AM

^, ^^, ^^^

good calls. checked credit score--it had, in fact, been reported...and I was shocked at what my score was. All 3 bureaus listed it at 655! I figured that my credit score would be STELLAR...I've had accounts open for probably 10 years, have 2 credit cards with a total of $15,000 credit limit, and I always pay them off in full every month, have no debt whatsoever, have nearly a full year's salary put away in CASH, and always pay everything on time. I've financed 3 cars and 2 motorcycles, and paid those loans back in full and early. Plus, I just got my TS/SCI security clearance a few months ago...I figured that if there WAS anything noteworthy in my credit history, they would've asked about it (as they certainly check all of your financial history)

The only other blemish was a $98 charge that was reported to a collection agency when I was in college back in 2003...it was for stitches or X-rays or something, and I don't remember the circumstances, but something about it was bullshit, so I refused to pay it until it finally got reported to collections (when I finally decided that I probably wasn't going to win, and $98 wasn't worth the fight).

I called Chase back and talked to them--it took about 2 minutes for them to remove it, no questions asked. The only problem is that it will take 30-60 days to update things with the credit bureaus. In the meantime, they're sending me a letter that I can present to mortgage lenders explaining that the late payment mark will be going away. Hopefully that $98 hit from 6 years ago won't be enough to hurt my score too much.

[Edited on April 13, 2009 at 9:55 PM. Reason : asdf]

[Edited on April 13, 2009 at 9:59 PM. Reason : asdf]

4/13/2009 9:53:52 PM

my shit was 763 and i had never even had a credit card...only thing i can guess is that the student loan that my mom repays is counting toward my credit

4/13/2009 9:54:48 PM

Gawd damn, 655 is atrocious. Might as well consider it karma.

4/13/2009 10:06:52 PM

the fact that you have shit tons of money put away or that you have security clearance has no bearing on your credit score.

4/13/2009 10:15:39 PM

i know. i'm just saying that my finances and payment histories are solid enough that I just assumed that my credit score would be really good. I expected it to be at least 100 points higher.

and i mention the clearance not because it has any impact on my credit score, but because if there was any negative information in my credit history, I assumed that I would've been asked about it (obviously this late payment was after the clearance was processed).

I wonder how much of a beating I'm gonna take in terms of mortgage interest? I was just assuming that I'd get the best rates that anyone had to offer.



^^ Yeah, no kidding. the credit report still relects my Chase account as not only having a late payment, but not having been paid off at at all, yet...I'm hoping that it'll go back up substantially once this is resolved.

[Edited on April 13, 2009 at 10:27 PM. Reason : asfd]

4/13/2009 10:25:09 PM

I'm really really surprised your credit score is that low. Mine was low 700's when I bought a condo..and I didn't have near the credit history you have.

Really really weird. I would think anybody looking at 6 years worth of perfect payments is going to realize some bullshit $98 charge from 6 years ago is the only reason it isn't higher and is going to see the obvious trend of you paying your bills.

And the down payment probably won't hurt

4/13/2009 10:33:50 PM

Quote :

"have 2 credit cards with a total of $15,000 credit limit, "

This is your problem. You have a high amount of open credit in comparison to your income and savings.

Quote :

"have no debt whatsoever, have nearly a full year's salary put away in CASH"

This doesn't help either. Put that shit into an account, then it works for you (it shows you have liquidity to pay against your open line of credit).

My credit score has dipped almost 80 points in the last year simply because of my total open line of credit. I closed the cards I don't use, and had my limits reduced on the cards that had absurd pre-market crash limits on them.

4/13/2009 10:43:27 PM

Here are some guesses as to why your credit score could be bad... I have NO IDEA if these factors would actually impact the score:

a) You're in or were in the military. Maybe there is a higher rate of default among military members... That would be horrible if they did that, and a PR nightmare if anyone ever found out so I doubt it

b) Does a driving record impact credit score? From what you've posted, it seems like you might have some problems there.

Noen, I'm guessing that when he says he has his savings put away in CASH, I assume (hope to god) that he meant a cash account AKA savings account. God have mercy on his soul if he's actually got 40k in bills sitting around somewhere. That's just begging for the cops to confiscate it permanently.

4/13/2009 10:53:30 PM

I assumed it was in some sort of savings or money market account. I doubt he has it in his mattress.

[Edited on April 13, 2009 at 10:54 PM. Reason : ^^]

4/13/2009 10:54:41 PM

Quote :

"This is your problem. You have a high amount of open credit in comparison to your income and savings."

My understanding has always been that untapped credit is good.

???

Quote :

"I assumed it was in some sort of savings or money market account. I doubt he has it in his mattress."

It's mostly in a money market acct, with some in my Scottrade acct, alongside some of my long-term investments (it's currently tied up in shares of DDM at the moment, so technically that portion is not cash, but I'll probably take profits on the next good up day, so I basically consider it cash).

4/13/2009 11:11:57 PM

Quote :

"My understanding has always been that untapped credit is good. "

It's not that unused credit is good in all cases; what's good is having a low debt utilization ratio.

Quote :

"b) Does a driving record impact credit score? From what you've posted, it seems like you might have some problems there."

It does not, although some auto insurance companies do use credit reports in determining premiums, to some degree.

4/13/2009 11:16:49 PM

Quote :

"I've financed 3 cars and 2 motorcycles, and paid those loans back in full and early."

I hate to break it to you but the early part will actually lower your credit score. I consider it to be bull shit but the industry likes to see that you can manage payments and pay over a course of time.

Also the 98 dollar incident and the additional recent incident in aggregate can drop your score heavily. each time you have something negative added on it takes a bigger and bigger dip. You'll notice a sizable rise once the credit card late fee is removed.

i had a similar scenario. I paid my bill online but the payment didn't go through until the next day, which resulted in hitting me with a late charge. The card company had only changed the address for one of my cards and since i never use either one I never got word of the late fee. This took place for about 6months. A customer service rep removed the late fee with no issue at all and took it off my report.


There won't be any quick fixes on your credit, but I guarantee that in a year you'll be back over 700. The 2003 incident will be removed, as they all are after seven years. The recent one will be off. you can also set your bills to be paid with your credit card every month and then pay off the card immediately. This helps a lot. I have two cards and I found one impacted me negatively because it never gets paid. so my cell phone is paid with one credit card and then another by a different one.

4/13/2009 11:33:23 PM

Noen, Ambrosia: You must be misunderstanding what theDuke is saying. He has 15k available credit and pays his debts off every month. His ratio of credit/debt is as high as it can be.

4/14/2009 12:04:46 AM

I called Chase today and had my finance charge removed! w00t!

4/14/2009 12:50:14 AM

^^Noen and I are talking about two different things.

And if he's carrying a tiny balance or no balance, no, his debt utilization ratio isn't as high as it can be.

Go troll somewhere else.

4/14/2009 12:52:57 AM

4/14/2009 12:55:23 AM

^ Dave Ramsey says fuck tha fico.

4/14/2009 6:17:03 AM

"debt utilization ratio" is the same thing as a credit/debt ratio, except inverted, you idiot. If its good to have a low debt utilization ratio, then its good to have a high credit/debt ratio.

http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/2008/10/11/102973_debt-to-limi-ratio.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_4692826_calculate-debt-utilization-ratio.html


Conclusion: theDuke's credit limit and amount of debt is optimized for the highest possible credit score. He has a very high credit limit and a very low amount of debt. Therefore, his credit/debt ratio is very high and his debt utilization ratio (debt/credit) is very low.


From howstuffworks:

Quote :

" * 35 percent of the score is based on your payment history. This makes sense since one of the primary reasons a lender wants to see the score is to find out if (and how promptly) you pay your bills. The score is affected by how many bills have been paid late, how many were sent out for collection and any bankruptcies. When these things happened also comes into play. The more recent, the worse it will be for your overall score. * 30 percent of the score is based on outstanding debt. How much do you owe on car or home loans? How many credit cards do you have that are at their credit limits? The more cards you have at their limits, the lower your score will be. The rule of thumb is to keep your card balances at 25 percent or less of their limits. * 15 percent of the score is based on the length of time you've had credit. The longer you've had established credit, the better it is for your overall credit score. Why? Because more information about your past payment history gives a more accurate prediction of your future actions. * 10 percent of the score is based on new credit. Opening new credit accounts will negatively affect your score for a short time. This category also penalizes hard inquiries on your credit in the past year. Hard inquiries are those you've given lenders permission for, as opposed to soft inquiries, which include looking at your own score and have no effect on the score. However, the score interprets several hard inquiries within a short amount of time as one to account for the way people shop around for the best deals on a loan. * 10 percent of the score is based on the types of credit you currently have. It will help your score to show that you have had experience with several different kinds of credit accounts, such as revolving credit accounts and installment loans."

Based on this, it looks like its the late payment that really screwed you up. However, if you can afford to wait a few months, I think its impact on your credit score would very quickly dissipate even if they didn't remove it from your reports. You're doing everything right. Don't lower your credit limits or close any cards. Don't open any new lines of credit. Most importantly, don't listen to either Noen or Ambrosia since they've demonstrated a profound misunderstanding of these basic concepts.


[Edited on April 14, 2009 at 7:13 AM. Reason : s]

4/14/2009 7:05:36 AM

The late payments are what's killing you. You now have 2 debts that were sent to collections, that looks really bad. In fact, a lot of places will ask you up front on the app if you've ever had anything go to collections.

$15,000 is NOT too much credit, and paying loans off early will NOT hurt your score. Not paying your bills on time will.

4/14/2009 8:38:24 AM

the relatively low figure for the collections is also whats hurting you. Its saying you couldn't even pay off x, so how could you pay off x++

4/14/2009 9:40:44 AM

^^^ that's what it sounds like

^^ no, just 1 to collections. It's apparently been on there for like 6+ years, and I'm not sure what's going on. They are still putting a derogatory tag on my report every month, and have for all but 4 out of the last 24 months! I disputed it, so they have to investigate and figure out what's going on.

The Chase card thing shows up on my report as greater than 30 days delinquent. It's already paid off, but the report doesn't even reflect that, yet...and the entire thing should go away in a month or two since I explained what happened to Chase and they agreed to remove it.

The problem is, I hope to close on a house within the next 30 days. I found one I really like yesterday.

[Edited on April 14, 2009 at 1:54 PM. Reason : asfd]

[Edited on April 14, 2009 at 1:59 PM. Reason : adsf]

4/14/2009 1:54:03 PM

That sucks. Sign up for autopay.

4/14/2009 2:54:27 PM

Let this be a lesson to all of us. Check your credit early, check it often. If you plan to buy a house in the next couple of years, check your credit NOW.

Its too late for theDuke866, but the rest of us can learn from his mistakes.

4/14/2009 5:24:26 PM

I check that b weekly

4/14/2009 5:25:55 PM

Quote :

"and paying loans off early will NOT hurt your score."

It wont hurt it obviously. It doesn't help it as much as a loan paid off as described.

My credit score is sig. better than yours but also has a note about a car loan paid off quickly as a reason why it is not any higher.

Seems kind of counter intuitive at first but makes sense. If you pay a loan off quickly you haven't really proven you can carry debt for a long time and be "good" for it.

4/14/2009 6:05:49 PM