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OOps I Missed a Payment Now What?

OOPS You Missed a Payment. Should you close the account?  No, No No. If you close the account the late payment continue to show on your account for seven years.

My First reaction to a missed payment 

When I did not know better that is what I would have closed the account.  The problem is your late payments will stay on your credit history for seven years on your account if you close the account.  You will not be able to get the late payment removed if you no longer have an account with the card you were late.  


My Recently Missed Payment

I had a Credit Card with Lowes that I missed a payment. I forgot I had charged something on it.  I owed them around $100.  I discovered it when it showed up as a 30 day late payment on my credit report in Credit Karma. 

 

Before the missed payment my credit score was 780.  The missed payment lowered me to 725.  I did not panic.  I paid the bill as soon as I realized I missed the payment.  Next I called customer service and apologized for missing the payment and I set up autopay.

I did not try to eliminate the late payment fee.  My goal was to get the 30 day late payment removed from my credit report.  


I did not ask at this time to get the missed payment removed or the late payment fee removed. The Customer Service person removed the Late Payment fee without me asking. I had already paid it so I ended up with a credit on the account.

Continue to Use the Account

I charged a couple of items on the card over the next couple of months.  I made sure I paid as soon as I got the bill. 

After 6 months with continued use of the card, I called customer support.  I very nicely told the customer service woman that I was bummed about the missed payment on my account. 

I told her I had been looking at cars, this was true I love cars and look at them all the time.  I asked her nicely if there was any way she could remove my missed payment from my account. 


 She said she would ask her supervisor.  In just a couple of minutes she came back on the line.  She took the missed payment off of my credit report.  Within a couple of weeks my score jumped right back up.  


If the Customer Service Agent could not Remove the Negative


If she had not been able to remove the negative, I would have spent the maximum amount on the card and never paid the bill.  No No No. Not really, I am kidding.  


I would have spent more on the card and paid them off as soon as I got the bill.  After another couple of months I then would have called again and asked very nicely to have the negative removed.  

This has Worked Multiple Times

I have helped friends use this very same system to get negatives removed from their credit.  I hope you never need to use this however I have found it to work quite well.

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