Delete TL or simply remove late?

[abizone]

I have a 3 year old account that is showing a 60 day late on it. This account has been closed back in 2004 and I'm getting ready to send dispute letters to the Big 3 but I'm confused as to what I should demand . Would I be shooting myself in the foot if I asked for a deletion considering the account has been in good standing prior to closing it except for this late? The other option is for me to ask for them to erase the late pay notations within the listing. Any ideas?

[hiblues]

I had a similar situation.

What I did first was call the OC and I said,

"You know, I just checked my CR yesterday and it shows you reporting me as 60 days late on X date.... I don't ever remember being late, can you verify that for me please"

They came back with, "we don't have records that old"

(cha ching)

So I disputed the lates with the CRA's and the lates were changed to 'OK'. Now I have a 'OK' notation on every single month of that account.

Also, I said in my dispute letter what I wanted them to do,

"please verify that I was on-time and report the account accurately"

---

If you call the OC and they do have record of it,

any dispute will most likely going to come back as 'verified'

so you are better to send a GW letter first (to the OC)

Hope that helps.

[abizone]

Thanks much for the insights hiblues! So I call GAP card services and asked for a verification on those lates to which the lady simply said "That account is so old that all I can do is only place an order for those statements". It sounded like a lame excuse for not being able to verify the charges. Either ways I'm taking that as my cue to go ahead with my battle with the CRAs

[abizone]

Just out of curiosity, what could a valid verification of late payment for a closed account be? Do they simply have to have a listing on their online systems stating that this account was late on payments or would they actually have to present a copy of the paper statements which indicate the lateness? Thanks in advance!!

[MadinKS]

Please be careful. You may end up deleting some decent credit history. If they can't verify it or won't verify it, it will end up in credit heaven. That will tank your FICO if it's deleted. Just a caution.

[hiblues]

You may end up deleting some decent credit history. If they can't verify it or won't verify it, it will end up in credit heaven. That will tank your FICO if it's deleted. Just a caution.

Excellent point....

if it's a closed account they may close it...

That's why you have to tell them exactly what you want them to do.

Something like,

"Yes, this is my account, I do NOT want it deleted.. please verify that I was never late and correct to show paid as agreed"