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I had a credit card that I rarely used a year ago. I don't remember exactly what circumstance came up to where I used it one day, but I did, to buy something for $36.

Most of my bills are set to auto-pay, so I generally don't pay much attention to mailed statements and must have ignored the bill for this card for a couple months. Finally, I did see a bill, swore at myself for letting it go, and paid the balance including fees for $160.

Just today I checked my credit, and I noticed that it's fallen 130 points - entirely because of this. Is there anything I can do to repair my credit? I made a mistake on one small bill - will this ruin a decade of not missing a payment? Is this something I can dispute, even though the fault is mine?

enter image description here

Followup: Three weeks later, I checked my score, and was so happy to see this. Thanks, guys. enter image description here

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  • when did you pay it? If it was recent then your score will go up a good deal once the debt has been marked as resolved by the credit agencies. – Pablitorun Jun 18 '12 at 17:15
  • I paid it in March, but it looks like the account was closed by the creditor just before that from what I can tell now by the credit reports. It looks like they just stopped reporting anything after February to the credit agencies, so it looks like there's a balance that's just hanging there. Should I just call the credit card company? – Jeffrey Jun 18 '12 at 17:21
  • Kind of a sidebar question, but what website are you using in that image? Is it MyFico? – Ryan Jun 18 '12 at 17:31
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    If the account was closed, was it sent to a collection agency? When you paid off all the charges including accumulated interest and late payment fees, did it get credited to your account which now shows a zero balance, or did it get lost in limbo? If you paid in March (after swearing), there will still have been a balance due on your April statement (interest from billing statement date to date your payment posted). Did you pay that? If not, your account is still delinquent, and more swearing is likely to occur when you discover that oversight! – Dilip Sarwate Jun 18 '12 at 17:32
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    @Ryan Looks like MyFico: see their sample page – Steven Jun 18 '12 at 17:47
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Yes call the credit card company, you can request that they remove the items from your credit report. I had a similar situation occur since I have everything automated as well. I called the Credit Card company up and they were able to remove the late fee as well as the mark against my credit score. They still got the interest off the amount paid to them though.

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  • I just faxed them my information. I'm more than happy to pay the interest - I guess we'll see what they can do to remove the outstanding balance marks on the credit reports. It would be amazing if they would remove all negative action. – Jeffrey Jun 18 '12 at 17:56
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I actually would write the creditor a letter sent by certified mail. This gives you a written record of the request and also ensures you will get a written reply from your company.

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    Nothing untrue here, but sometimes a certified letter comes off as aggressive. OP might get more flys with honey than certified mail. – MrChrister Jun 18 '12 at 18:30

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