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OOPS I Missed a Payment

 Should I just close the account?  Will the late payment continue to show on my account?

When I did not know better that is what I would have done.  The problem is your late payments will stay on your credit history for seven years on your account if you close the account.  It is unlikely you will be able to get the late payment taken off if you no longer have a business relationship with the company you were late with the payment.  


****My OOPs: 

I had a Credit Card with Lowes that I did not have set up on autopay.  I missed a payment as I forgot I had charged something on it.  I owed them around $100.  I missed a payment and it showed up on my credit report. 

Before the missed payment I was at 780.  The missed payment lowered me to 725.  I did not panic.  I paid the bill as soon as I realized I missed the payment. 


I did not try to eliminate the late payment fee. My goal is to get the late payment removed, I don't care about this $10.00 fee.


I then charged a couple of items on the card.  I made sureI paid as soon as I got the bill. 


After 6 months with no more missed payments and continued use of the card, I called customer support.  I very nicely told the customer service woman that I was bummed about the missed payment on my account. 


I told her I had been looking at cars, this was true I love cars and look at them all the time.  I asked her nicely if there was any way she could remove my missed payment. 


I also explained to her that I thought I had set the account up as autopay and had expected it to have been paid automatically.  She took the missed payment off of my credit report and within a couple of weeks my score jumped right back up.  


If she had refused I would have spent the maximum amount on the card and never paid the bill.  No, no, no I am kidding. I would have bought a couple more items on the card and paid them off as soon as I got the bill.  I then would have called again and asked very nicely to have the negative removed.


I have helped friends use this very same system to get negatives removed from their credit. I hope you never need to use this.
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