Category: Ohio

In his article titled “How Late Payments Affect Credit and How to Recover,” Broadview Federal Credit Union CEO Michael J. Castellana emphatically states

If the late payment was a one-time mistake, you can send a goodwill letter to your lender asking for a courtesy removal of the mark. The saturation technique involves sending multiple letters to different departments within the same institution, as different managers have varying levels of authority to grant goodwill adjustments. This method relies on persistence and politeness rather than entitlement.

Indeed, even the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (known as FDIC) states

Ask for a “good will” deletion

• • • • If you have paid your bills on time and as agreed with a creditor, but missed a payment or two, you may be able to negotiate a deletion of the negative entry.
      • If this doesn’t work, ask what else could be done to prevent it from being reported to a credit reporting agency.

Worse, the actual Middle District of Florida U.S. Attorney’s Office, United States Department of Justice states (literally, incompetently (including errant dots #incompetence))

Ways to Get Debt off Your Credit Report

1. 1. 1. 1. Dispute the Claim
            • This only works if you don’t owe the debt, or the collection agency fails to verify the debt within 30 days. Sometimes, the collection agency keeps a debt on your credit report for the past seven years. You can write with proof of when delinquency started to have it removed.
         2. Goodwill Deletion
            • If the debt was acquired in an unfortunate circumstance, and the debt has been paid, ask the collection agency or creditor to take the collection off your credit report, out of goodwill. If you have good credit (other than the collection) and were reliable before and after the delinquency, there is a chance they will take the collection off your credit report. The chances are better with the original creditor and low with a collection agency.
         3. Pay for Removal
            • Even if you pay the collection agency and settle the debt, the collection stays on your credit report for seven years. You can try to negotiate to have it removed. You pay a fee, and the collection agency stops reporting your collection. Make sure you have the agreement in writing.
         4. Wait for Removal
            • When the debt is legitimate and the debt collector does not agree to remove it from your report, your only option is waiting for it to be removed after 7 years from when the account first became delinquent. Although this will continue to hurt your credit score, the impact will lessen as time goes on.

It’s a long story. #stupidity