free copy of credit report – equifax experian trans union

Jesse B. Smith asked:




This is a frequently asked question. With tough times upon us, more and more people are finding it difficult to get their bills paid on time. This, in turn, means that these same people are reported to the credit reporting agencies as late and the late payment is reported to lenders who request your credit report.

A “late payment” as the term implies is any payment on a credit associated account which is received by the creditor after the due date. The only thing that matters is that the payment was late. It does not matter if the payment was one day late or thirty days late, it is still considered late. Additionally, you will be charged a late payment penalty on any payment made after the due date and these are normally pretty stiff penalties.

To remove overdue payments from your credit report, you will need to obtain a copy of your credit report. You can do this by contacting one of the three credit reporting agencies, TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. These companies are legally required to provide you with one copy of your credit report every twelve months.

Though the credit reports may vary slightly in their layout, they all contain the same types of information. You should be able to easily and quickly ascertain how each credit report lists entries showing overdue payments and should report the number of late payments you have made over a given period of years.

Though, consumers understand that making payments late is not a good thing, they normally don’t understand the far-reaching consequences. Payment punctuality can count for over 30% of your total credit score. Because of this, late payments can severely affect credit applications which you submit to a lender.

The first thing you can try in order to remove late payments from your credit report is to contact the creditor directly and ask that it remove the overdue payments. This is often successful, however, if you habitually make late payments, it may be less likely.

If contacting the creditor is unsuccessful, you should write the credit reporting bureau that reports the overdue payment and request that the late notation be removed. You should include documentation which proves your claim and be sure to retain copies of all correspondence to and from the credit bureau. If the credit bureau cannot verify within 30 days that the payment was late, it must remove the entry.

Of course, it is always easier to try to stop the situation from occurring in the first place. If you know you will be late paying a bill, contact the creditor and explain the situation to them. Many times creditors will work with you to agree on a payment plan.

Any legitimate late payment entry can remain on your credit report for up to seven years. Instead of letting this cause havoc with your credit score, work with your creditors to keep the late payment from showing up on your credit report.

Stephanie