How long does 30-Day lates stay on your credit profile?

Question

I have two 30-day lates back in October '06 for mortgage, one for my car last July '06, and a credit card 30-day back in mid 2004. How long does these dings stay on my credit? My midscore is around 640 to 645, so I'm not too bad, but still trying to reach the 700s range.

Answer 1

Late payments will be reported for the length of the loan. You might have perfect payments for a year straight, but the loan will show at one time you were late. The late payments are not removed over time. It's up to the companies if they choose to remove the lates. What I used to tell consumers is to try to contact these companies and plea with them to try to have them remove the lates. Let them know that you have been paying on time and this is affecting your credit score.
Some companies will drop late payment history after 3 years.
Your credit score is based on a lot of other factors beside payment history. If you want your score to improve, order your score directly from TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. They will give you factors that have lead up to your score. So you might be able to work on some other things. For example. One of your factors might be not enough "premium" accounts, which means you might want to open a credit card account with a co like American Express or Discover. Something that shows you have the ability to spend on a high limit, but you keep the balance low.

I opened an account with American Express just to improve my credit score. It shows that I have a credit limit of $10,000. But I don't use that card, I keep the balance under $500.00. On the note of credit cards, try to keep your balances less than 50% of the credit limit. This can actually affect your car insurance, if your credit card balances are too high.

Another factor that might be affecting your score is the length of your loans. Only time will help that.

There's just too many ways to improve your credit score. The best advise I can give is to pay your bills on time (by any means necessary), don't close credit cards (even if you're not using them) and to order your free report every year to check for mistakes.... ( annualcreditreport.com ) Whew that was a lot of typing!

Oh, another important tip is to only apply for something if you know you will get approved. Applications, or inquiries on your credit report will be reported for 2 years and will hurt your credit score if you are applying for too many things. Ok I'm done.!

Answer 2

7 years

Answer 3

In addition to maybe 1 or 2 credit cards, an installment loan will help your cause out even more. Something like a car loan with on time payments for at least 24 months should really help. However, I really encourage people against the use of debt. If you talk to loan company that does their own underwriting (Churchill Mortgage is one) then a FICO score becomes less important. If you have been at your job for two years and made on-time payments to rent and utilities for two years, then you may be a good candidate for a loan. Since they do their own underwriting they can look at other factors (other than the over-hyped FICO score) to determine your worthiness to borrow money.

Answer 4

The first 3 posters are correct


Per the FCRA - your accounts should lose the lates and move into a positive status 7 years from when the lates occurred.

If you have a good reason for being late, you may try sending good will letters to the creditors. Explain why you were late, how much you enjoy doing business with them, etc. and ask if they will remove the lates. Some companies will, some won't. But it never hurts to try.

Answer 5

7 years.

Answer 6

I think 7 years

Answer 7

Depends on the state that you are in. Statues vary greatly. 3-7 is the most common but I know that there is at least one state with 10 years.