Removing 30 and 60 day late payments

[family_man]

I have a question for anyone that might have some good advice for me. I recently found out that I had three 30 day late payments and two 60 day late payments on my car loan.

In November of last year, we bought and moved into our first home. During our transition into our new home I was in a very intense law enforcement training program. I had no time to even think about paying bills, so I asked my wife to take over. Just after Christmas time, I had a probationary exam to keep my job, that literally took everything out of me. I was depending on my wife to take care of paying the bills. Especially, the car loan which we are both co-signers. Not sure why she wasn't paying it (she claimed she was) possibly due to some of the medical issues she was having as the result of a car accident a few years back. The end result was that she wasn't paying it and we weren't receiving any notice that we weren't because we had changed our address and phone# and never notified the creditor.

When I found out last month, I immediately payed off the deliquent balance (78 days late). I tried asking about getting the late payments removed from my credit and they stated there was nothing they could do. The most frustrating part of the whole thing is that my loan will be totally paid off in Dec. of this year. Apart from this little mishap, I only had one other 30 day late payment when I was in the military out of state on temporary duty and totally spaced out on my payment. Is there anything I can do to get these removed?

Also, when my wife made a payment over the phone in March the customer service rep. asked how much she wanted to pay on our balance. My wife said she wanted to pay our regular payment amount. The customer service rep. never even told her that we were more than sixty days late and two payments behind when she called in to make a payment. What is up with that?

I have a feeling that I am out of luck because these are valid late payments. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[mzsyd]

Welcome! In your case you can try a goodwill letter to the creditor. If you do a search for goodwill letter there are a ton of info even some sample letters. Use them as guideance. Goodluck!

[acenstace]

Good luck with the removal of late payments. I have had success with just about everything else. I have tried goodwill letters, disputes and emails to CEO. Nothing has worked for me. If you find a better way please let me know. The same answer that I always get is that they have to report accurate info. AGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[family_man]

acenstace & mzsyd,

Thank you both for your replies. I will give the goodwill letter a shot and see what happens. I actually have a buddy who's uncle is some sort of Vice President for the loan company. I think I might try and send the letter directly to him. Any input on whether that is a good idea or not? Thanks again for your responses.

[timbercreektech]

Sounds as if the VP is the way to go. If not, waiting about a year after the account is fully paid and closed, dispute with CRA's as never late. Sometimes the loan holder doesn't save old loan information or doesn't bother to respond to CRA when disputed. Other than that, I keep a spreadsheet of all payments for all my revolving credit lines. I use a formula that turns dates RED 10 days prior to a payment being due. I just have to open it daily, take a cursory look and pay anything thats red. Once the payment is recorded it turns green. However you want to do it is up to you, but I suggest everyone track their expenses and income in a spreadsheet. All but one creditor allows online payments. The spreadsheet contains links to the sites pages where I log in and make payment. Since I'm paid on a every two week basis and my payments are all over the board, I usually only have to make 3-4 payments every 2 weeks. I spend less than 10 minutes a month paying bills.

Good Luck and thank you for your service to the country.