Transcription
Did you know ontime payments account for 35% of your overall credit score? That's the biggest factor affecting your credit score to date. If you had a perfect credit score right now and you were to have a late payment reported 30 days past due, it could drop your score on average 100 points. Not to mention, it stays on the report for up to seven years.
So today, I'm going to show you step by step how to remove late payments from your credit report. We're not going to be writing Goodwill letters. We're not going to call. I'm going to show you online how to remove late payments from your report, step by step, as fast as possible.
All right, so the first thing we're going to do to get started. We're going to go to either Experian.com or you can also use Identity IQ. My preference is Experian. With Experian, you can get all three credit bureau reports, and you can get it for TransUnion, Equifax as well. Um, I use them a majority of the time. Identity IQ is also very good. If you don't have either account, I recommend maybe Identity IQ to start. You can start a free trial with them for as low as a dollar if you don't have an account right now. Um, if not, you can just use whichever one you prefer, but I recommend that you use one of these two.
So if you don't have an account with either one of these two, first thing we want to do is create an account and then we want to log in. So I'm going to give you a second to log in to either Experian or Identity IQ. If you don't have an account, create one, and then I'll see you at the next step.
All right, so once we're logged into Experian or Identity IQ, we're going to scroll down and we're going to find the account that's late. For this example, I'm going to be using this Credit One Bank account. So we see we have a late payment here. We're going to click on that account.
All right, so for this account, there's a late payment in September and there is a late payment in October. No data for November. For November and no data for December. Now, I'm using this account as an example, and we're only looking at the Experian part of the credit reports right now. Let's say that this same account with Credit One was to have 30 days past due in September and 60 days, um, in October. But then we looked at our TR TransUnion report and September was paid on time, but it was 30 days late in October. That would be an inaccuracy, and then we would also look at the same thing with Equifax.
So with this account, um, I believe that at the time, because I can't pull up the other report for TransUnion or Equifax right now, but in this example, September's 30 days late, you're 60 days late in October. The other one for TransUnion or Equifax, they had the opposite, like, uh, paid on time but but 30 days late in October. That is an inaccuracy, and that's an inaccuracy that we can actually use.
So what I would normally do is take this, and then I would screenshot it. Um, if you're on a MacBook, it's Shift Command 3. Screenshot that, and, um, I would probably screenshot the, the, the top two so you can get the account information here. So Shift Command and 3. That way we have the Credit One name here, we have the account number, we have this showing as, uh, 30 days late and 60 days late, right? And then we're going to screenshot this. We would then upload this to the CFPB, and then we're going to use this screenshot in our dispute.
So, um, again, right now, this is the only account that I have as an example, but what you'll want to do is just make sure that you find the account that's late. You want to make sure to get the account number, so make sure that you have that account number copy because we're going to need this account number when we go, um, and file the the dispute with the CFPB, right? And then we want to make sure to have the screenshot of this payment date for September and October, and we want to make sure that, um, we're reporting to late payments.
So once you gather all your information, you're going to C the account number. You're going to get a screenshot of that account that is late from the payment history legend. All right, we're going to go over to the, uh, CFPB, and then we're going to file this complaint.
Now, before we go ahead and file that complaint with the CFPB, I always like to pull up the Cornell Law School, um, compliance procedure. So that's 15 U.S. Code 1681e, and the part that we're always looking at is the B section, accuracy of report. So whenever a consumer reporting agency prepares a consumer report, it shall follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of the information concerning the individual about whom the report relates.
So this is actually what we're going to use in our dispute, right? We're going to be using the accuracy of a report. We're going to go ahead and let them know that that account was not late, and it's up to them. The burden of proof is on the consumer reporting agency. You have to understand, the credit bureaus are not government entities, right? They're just data furnishers, right? You need to make sure that they're reporting accurate information on your credit report, right? And the burden of proof is always on them to prove that something is not inaccurate. It's not on you, okay? We're just trying to make sure that our report is 100% accurate. It's up to them to gather information to to determine if if that's not true.
So, um, we're going to go ahead, we're going to take what we have here, the 15 U.S. Code 1681e compliance Pro procedure section B, and I'm going to show you how we're going to use this in order to file our dispute with the CFPB on the next step.
All right, so now we're on the CFPB, that's the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And I want to read this too. So we're the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a U.S. government agency dedicated to making sure you are treated fairly by banks, lenders, and other financial institutions. So again, the credit bureaus are just data furnishers. The CFPB is an actual government entity, right? So this is the actual, this is the only real bureau, right? The other ones are just companies that furnish information. This is the only government agency, right? So this is who they have to answer to in case we have any complaints.
So we'll start by submit a complaint, and then we're going to scroll down. Start a new complaint. If you have an account, you're going to go ahead and already submit, um, already submitted a complaint or created your account. We'll click on that. You'll sign in at the next step. If you don't have an account, just take the time, fill out this first name, last name, email, phone number, and you're going to create a password. You'll sign up and you'll verify your email. And once you've done that, or you've logged in, then we'll proceed to the next step.
All right, so once you're logged in, we're going to go to start a new complaint. All right, the option that we're looking for is credit reporting and other personal Consumer Reports. So we're going to click on that. And what type of credit reporting product? We're going to go to credit reporting. All right, and then we're going to go to improper use of your report. So shared without consent, credit inquiries from unknown sources. All right, and then reporting company used your report improperly. And then have you already tried to fix this problem with the company? You want to always click yes. Did you request information from the company? You want to click yes. What information did you request? In this case, we can say, um, statement proving I was late on this account. And did the company provide this information? Just always select no, they did not provide this information.
All right, so we're going to fill out all this information again. Improper use of your report, reporting company used your report improperly. Did you already try to fix the problem? Yes. Did you request the information from the company? Yes. The information, statement proving I was late on this account. And did the company provide this information? No. So fill all that out, and then I'll see you on the next step.
All right, so on the next step, I've already typed out exactly what we're going to want to say. Um, you can modify this slightly. I always recommend just maybe changing it up just a little bit, or if you want to take it verbatim, then you can. So, "I recently reviewed my credit report and noticed an account that was not reporting accurately. I had two late payments, or one depending on on what you're doing. I had two late payments on an account that was in fact paid on time. The consumer reporting agencies need to report all information with complete accuracy. Let me just fix that. This account has not been late on payments. I've attached the copy of my report to this complaint on the following dates." You want to make sure to insert the dates here, and you want to use the two-digit date. So if it's, uh, February 2024, you want to do 02/24. "I'm now requesting you investigate and provide verifiable proof with records showing that I had late payments. If this information cannot be verified, I demand these payments be updated to paid on time immediately. Thank you for your understanding and prompt action."
So anything along these lines is fine. You can modify it slightly, uh, you know, change a little bit of the words. If not, use the same one. Just be mindful if you do copy this directly, make sure you update it to the payments that you have now. Um, I recommend that you don't do this for more than two late payments. You know, if it's one or two, then, um, then that's good. If it's, if it's two or more, you might want to, um, attack this differently. You might want to do like in sets, like one late payment, let it get updated, and then do, um, you know, if it's two more, then do the other two. But I wouldn't try to do it all at one time. I would try to do just maybe no more than two at a time.
So what would be a fair resolution to this issue? Update the account to paid on time and never late. Very, very simple, straight to the point. And you attach your documents. So you see the screenshots that we took. I've attached them here, and then they'll be forwarding them to the company company. So, um, take a look if you need to copy that, and then this here too. All right, and then we're going to be moving on to the next step.
All right, so on the next step, we're going to type out all the companies that we're disputing with. So we're going to start with Experian. And you could pretty much pick any one of these. Um, Experian at the top, Experian credit reporting agency, Experian credit reporting, Experian credit bureau. So let's just do Experian credit reporting agency. And then you're going to enter your social security number, your name as it appears on the credit report, and your date of birth. So whatever your social is, you can enter that. You can enter your date of birth. Now, this is important. However, your name is shown on the Experian credit report, you want to enter that. So if your name was Stephen and it's showing S T E P H E N last name Smith, you want to enter it like that. If your middle name was James, Stephen James Smith, you want to enter it just like that. If they had your name with capital P H E N, however it's shown on your credit report, that's the exact way you want to make sure to enter it, okay? So just make sure to enter that exactly how it's shown on that report. So however they did it, enter it like that.
Do you want to complain about another company? Yes. Um, let's add TransUnion now. So for TransUnion, same thing. I'll use TransUnion, TransUnion, uh, with the capital TransUnion, um, intermediate Holdings Inc, uh, with with or TransUnion credit reporting agency. So whichever one you want to enter. Have you already tried to fix this problem with the company? So we want to enter the exact same information. Yes. Did the company, uh, did you request information from that company? Yes. What information did you request? And say the same thing, a statement proving I was late on this account. All right. Did the company provide this information? No. So we want to enter all the same things, right? And then we're going to enter the same exact information, uh, social security number, date of birth, same thing. And then again, however your name appears on TransUnion, you want to enter it like that. You may have multiple names. If you do have multiple names, you should refer back to my video about removing personal information. I'm going to link that video right around here so you can watch that, okay? So however it appears, let's say on this one it has first name, middle name, and a last name. However it appears, we're going to enter it that exact same way. All right.
And then do you want to complain about another account? Yes, we do. Uh, we want to complain about Equifax. And then same thing, Equifax credit bureau, Equifax. So Equifax credit bureau. Have you already tried to fix this problem with the company? Yes, we did. Did you request information from the from the company? Yes, we did. What information? A statement proving I was late on this account. Same information. Did the company provide this information? No. All right. And then same thing, social security number, name as it appears, uh, and date of birth. So you want to run through and just enter all this information for all three credit bureaus. Once you're done, then I'll see you on that next step.
All right, so this is the the last step, step five. It's going to ask who are you submitting this complaint for? I'm going to click on myself. But after I click on myself, I'm going to cut to the end because my personal information does come up. But when you're submitting this, click on myself, okay? And then we're going to look at the review, and then we're going to get to the very end. So after I clicked myself, all I did was simply scroll down to the very bottom, and then you're going to click on review.
All right, so it's going to have you review the complaint. Um, you're going to scroll down and just, you're going to see all the same information again. It shows some personal information, so I'm just going to scroll down to the very bottom. All right, so you're at the very bottom. You just want to, um, authorize and direct the consumer reporting agency identified in my complaint to share determinations and actions taken by the company for the purpose of responding to my complaint. Cool. The information given is true to the best of my knowledge and belief. We want to check these, and then you want to submit the complaint.
So that is all the steps that I have for you today in getting late payments removed from your credit report. We're pretty much all done. Um, review the information, make sure that you have everything completed. If you don't receive an email within like two or three minutes showing that the complaint is completed, you do want to make sure that you go back and submit the complaint again. If you, sometimes go back or refresh the page, the complaint does not get submitted. So you want to make sure, use an email that you're actually going to have access to. You want to make sure that you get an email confirming that the complaint was submitted, and then you can go back into your account and you can see that that the complaint was submitted.
All right, so, um, all I can recommend is that you guys, if if you've done this to get the late payments, I suggest going to watch my video about personal information, checking out the videos about removing hard inquiries, and also about removing the collections. This was a video that was requested in the comments, so thank you. If you guys have any more ideas for videos that you want to see, please leave it in the comment at the bottom so that I can, um, I can make those videos for you too. Whatever you think that you have questions about, please let me know. I'll do my best to make a video, uh, for that. I appreciate all the love that I've been getting. We're almost at 100 subscribers, and I think it's been like less than a week, so I appreciate you guys so much. We're growing fast. You guys have a wonderful day.