The Ultimate Checklist for Removing Lates in 2024

Dear Reader,

Welcome to “Step-by-Step Guide on Removing Lates in 2024”, and congratulations on making the decision to repair your credit for yourself and your future.

At its core, this guide is designed to help you create a strong argument and tell a powerful story to creditors. One that’s custom-designed for your unique life situation, goals and circumstances.

Whether you want to purchase a home/refinance a home or car you can with the best interest rates, it all starts with the same foundation: A Bulletproof Credit Story

For the past 20+ years, I’ve been running my own successful credit business. I grew (very slowly) from a family’s mortgage business in 2003. So I’ve learned a tremendous amount from repairing my client’s credit to purchase a home or car and even repaired my own credit (several times).

While I don’t pretend to have all the answers for every situation, my goal is to help you craft a stronger credit story to improve your chances of removal.

Feel free to give us a call for more self-help guidance and inquire about our credit repair services. We’ll be here to support you either way.

Best of luck, Ali

How to use this guide

Go step by step through the guide. Each step is specifically designed to set the foundation for the next and build as you go. Even if you think a step might not apply to you, we recommend you complete the full guide. Let’s go!

Disclaimer

The Step-by-Step Guide on Removing Lates in 2024 is a general self-help guide to removing a late payment but by no means does not include the expertise I have accumulated over the years. I did the best I could to give you everything you need to remove a late payment but by no means does it include every specificity. Remove late payments at your own risk in otherwards.

STEP 1 – Discover all the details

Make a careful discovery by reviewing statements and calling the lender for details (Do not ask lender for late payment removal)

Find out the following:

1. When payment was due?
2. What was the amount?
3. When was the payment finally made?
4. Was there a bounced payment?
5. Was the payment not enough to cover the minimum payment due?

STEP 2 – Identify the top reasons

A) Identity all of the errors made by the creditor:

• The creditor applied an annual/monthly fee to your account which led to the late.
• You were locked out of online access to the account or the creditor’s system was down.
• The creditor had the wrong spelling of your address or a missing apartment #.
• The creditor failed to update their system to your new mailing address or email address that you had provided before
• The creditor’s phone rep  took down your wrong bank account info when processing your payment.
• The auto payment you had set up was canceled without you knowing.
• There was an interest charge incurred after you thought you had paid off the account in full.
• Charges were made to your card that was not authorized or were of a fraudulent nature
• You had prior setup a deferment with the creditor due to Covid or a natural disaster and the creditor still marked you late.
• You made a payment on time  and the creditor failed to post it to your account.

B) Identify all of the extenuating circumstances you experienced:

• Examples of Extenuating Circumstances or 3rd party errors:
• You traveled while statements were being sent to your home.
• You were hospitalized or suffering from emotional trauma.
• There was a death or emergency in the family.
• Your bookkeeper or accountant forgot to render payment.
• You had set up automatic payments through your bank, which encountered an error.
• Your email was hacked where you get e-statements, or the creditor’s emails ended up in spam.
• Your paper statements and mail was being stolen.
• You had submitted a double payment the month prior, mistakenly thinking it would cover the next month.
• Your town was subjected to a natural disaster

C) List all of the reasons below from both lists below(From A and B):

Step 3:  Write a factual credit story

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Come up with your story , comprising on what you found in the steps above.

• Start with what happened. When the payment was due? When was it made?
• What caused the late payment? Was it the lenders fault or was it due to extenuating circumstances or a bit of both. Or was it that this was an oversight on your part?
• Explain your financial situation. Did you have enough funds to make the payment?
• Write down why you need or want the late payment to be removed (eg. Can’t get a mortgage or car loan etc).

Write your factual credit story here

Step 4 – Call the lender

Use the story in step 3 to make the case when engaging with the creditor.

Here are some additional tips on how to handle the call:

1. Call your lender’s customer service department.
2. Explain what happened. Emphasize any mistakes by the lender and/or extenuating circumstances that led to late payment.
3. Ask the lender to remove the late payment. Make it clear you are calling to get the late payment removed from your credit report (not the late fee refunded).

Step 5 – File an official complaint

If the lender doesn’t agree to remove late payment and they’re at fault, you can file a complaint at the following :

General Creditor: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at 

www.consumerfinance.gov

Credit Union: My Credit Union at

www.mycreditunion.gov/consumer-assistance-center

Student Loan: Student Aid at

https://studentaid.gov/feedback-ombudsman/disputes/prepare**

Step 6 – Sign up for free consultation

You can do this on your own but many people don’t because it takes time and persistence aside from know how.

We don’t just draft generic letters and roll dice, we take custom and calculated legal action to increase the your chances of getting the late payment removed no matter what the reasoning.

Email us: [email protected]

OR

Call our Customer Service team at 866-611-4629 will get back to you as quickly as possible.