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You have the right to try to remove a late payment from your credit reports if it was reported in error or the late payment was on an account that was fraudulently opened in your name. You cannot remove legitimate late payments from your credit reports, and they can stay on your reports for up to seven years. However, the impact of the late payments on your credit scores can diminish over time.
How Do Late Payments Impact Your Credit?
A late payment can hurt your credit scores, but the impact will depend on the entirety of your credit report, how far behind you fall and how long it's been since you missed a payment.
Example: Someone with an excellent FICO® Score☉ Θ and a long history of on-time payments might experience a large score drop after one late payment. But someone who is already behind on several credit accounts and has lower scores might not experience as large of a drop from one additional late payment.
In either case, the impact could increase if the person misses several payments in a row. Or, if they bring the account current, the impact can decrease over time.
Learn more: Can One 30-Day Late Payment Hurt Your Credit?
How Long Do Late Payments Stay on Your Credit Report?
Late payments can stay on your credit reports for up to seven years from the date of the missed payment.
Closed accounts will stay on your credit report for up to 10 years if you bring the account current before paying it off or closing it. But the late payment still gets removed after seven years.
So, if you missed a payment in October 2017, became current on your account in December 2017 and closed the account in good standing in February 2018, the late payment would have fallen off your credit report in October 2024, but the closed account itself would remain until February 2028.
If you never bring the account current, the creditor may close the account. It could also send your debt to collections. The late payments and associated collection accounts will fall off your credit reports seven years after the first late payment in that series.
Note: The date when your account first became past due is also called the original delinquency date or the date of first delinquency. It doesn't change, even if your account is transferred to one or more collection agencies.
Learn more: When Do Late Payments Get Reported?
How to Remove Late Payments From Your Credit Report
You cannot remove accurate late payments from your credit report. However, you do have the right to dispute inaccurate late payments and have them removed from your credit report.
There are several steps you can take to try to identify and remove inaccurate late payments from your credit reports.
1. Review Your Credit Reports
To start, review your credit reports from Experian, TransUnion and Equifax for details about the late payments. Consider which account is being reported late, when the late payments were reported and the amount that was reported past due.
Keep in mind, interest and fees can lead to larger past-due balances than when you first missed a payment. Creditors also might report to the bureaus at different times, which can lead to differences that aren't necessarily errors.
Learn more: How Often Is a Credit Report Updated?
2. See if the Late Payments Are Reported Accurately
Try to review your financial records to see if there are any discrepancies. Even being one day late is enough for some creditors to charge you a late fee and dole out other penalties, such as revoking promotional interest rates. But creditors won't report an account as late to the credit bureaus until it is 30 days past due.
3. Contact Your Creditor to File a Dispute
If you believe there's an error on your credit report, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) gives you the right to file a dispute for free.
- Submit a dispute. You may want to submit a dispute directly to the creditor that reported the late payment. Include any documentation you have, such as copies of a canceled check or payment verification email.
- Wait for the investigation. The creditor has to conduct a reasonable investigation, which could take up to 30 days. If it agrees that there was an error, it will send an update to all the credit bureaus it reports to and have the late payment corrected or deleted.
- Monitor your credit. You can monitor your credit reports for the changes, which may take several billing cycles to appear. Correcting or deleting inaccurate late payments might help your credit scores.
4. Dispute Inaccurate Information With the Credit Bureaus
You also have the right to dispute inaccurate information on your credit reports with each of the credit bureaus.
Once you file a dispute with the bureau, it will reach out to the creditor that supplied the information, ask it to verify it and respond to your claim. You may want to submit a dispute with each of the bureaus separately to avoid delays in getting all three of your credit reports corrected.
You can easily submit a dispute online with Experian:
- Go to the online Dispute Center.
- Find the account and the erroneous late payment.
- Choose the reason for your dispute.
- Review your request and submit the dispute.
- Upload relevant documents, such as proof that you made the payment on time.
You can also submit a dispute by phone or mail if you prefer. Equifax and TransUnion have similar systems and options.
Once a credit bureau concludes its investigation, it may verify, update or delete the item in question in its credit file. Disputes are generally resolved in 30 days, but the bureau may complete the investigation sooner. If you submit additional information after your initial dispute, the credit bureau has up to 45 days to resolve your dispute.
Can You Remove Accurate Late Payments?
You generally can't remove a late payment from your credit reports if your payment was late and the creditor is accurately reporting what happened. If there are errors in what they're reporting, you have the right to dispute the late payment as described above.
Tip: If you missed a payment because of extenuating circumstances and you've brought the account current, you could try to contact the creditor or send a goodwill letter and ask it to remove the late payment.
For instance, if you missed a payment because you were dealing with a natural disaster or medical emergency, the creditor might be able to offer you accommodations so your account isn't late and then remove the late payments.
Late Payments That Are Tied to Fraud
One exception may be if the late payment is from an account that was fraudulently opened in your name. Technically, the late payment is accurate because no one paid the bill on time. But you aren't responsible for fraudulent accounts.
First, you may want to file a police report and an identity theft report with the Federal Trade Commission. You may need to submit copies of these reports when you contact the creditor's fraud department and inform them that the account was fraudulently opened in your name.
Once the creditor verifies that the account was fraudulently opened, it could close the account and send an update to the credit bureaus to have it removed from your credit reports.
Be aware: You may see tips or "hacks" from credit repair companies and self-proclaimed credit experts for removing late payments. Many of these involve false claims, such as falsely claiming you were the victim of identity theft. Some companies even ask you to sign a power of attorney so they can file these claims on your behalf. Filing a false identity theft report is a crime and it could lead to fines and imprisonment.
How to Avoid Late Payments
Although it might be easier said than done, it's best to keep late payments from getting reported to the credit bureaus in the first place.
- Create systems to avoid accidental late payments. You could set up autopay for your minimum monthly payments to make sure the bills are paid on time. Or, create account alerts to get emails, text messages or app notifications about upcoming due dates.
- Contact your creditors if you can't afford your payment. If you're struggling to afford all your bills, contact your creditors to see if there are any hardship options available. For example, creditors might let you skip a payment or lower the minimum payment amount to keep you from falling behind. However, these might only be available if you're experiencing a temporary hardship, such as a lost job or medical emergency.
Remember, there might be penalties or fees if you miss a bill's due date. But if you bring an account current within 30 days, the late payment shouldn't be reported to the credit bureaus or affect your credit scores.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Goodwill Letter Remove a Late Payment?
A goodwill letter might be able to remove a late payment from your credit report if you're asking for goodwill because of specific extenuating circumstances. For instance, creditors may be able to remove the late payment if you missed the payment because you were in a natural disaster area.
Can Credit Repair Companies Remove Late Payments?
Credit repair companies can't remove late payments from your credit reports that you couldn't remove on your own. For example, if you have a late payment from a fraudulent account, the credit repair company could help you with the dispute process. But it's also something you can do on your own for free.
Some credit repair companies get accurately reported late payments removed from people's credit reports through illegal means. For instance, they might tell customers to claim they were victims of identity theft. While this might work initially, it's illegal and you could be held liable or even arrested.
The Bottom Line
Regularly checking your credit reports can help you stay on top of important changes, such as new accounts or late payments. You can get your credit report and FICO® Score for free from Experian to monitor your score and report. You can even get automated alerts about important changes in your credit report, such as a new late payment.
