How to remove negative points from your credit report

Whether you regularly take out finance or just stick to your credit card, there’s a chance that you may have a negative mark on your credit report. This could be from one missed payment or accidentally defaulting on a loan; regardless, they’re one of the primary reasons for a drop in your credit score.

With this in mind, you might be wondering if there’s a way to remove late payments from your credit report to make your next finance application easier.

Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to remove defaults from your credit profile, especially if they’re accurate. Lenders and credit reference agencies are legally obliged to report credit defaults as they appear, no matter how minor they are and even if they’re not your fault.

However, that’s not to say you can’t start cleaning your credit score up. First things first, you need to check your credit report so you can assess where the defaults lie. With this knowledge in hand, you can then start using the following steps to remove the negative points from your profile.

1. Dispute credit errors on your reports

While unlikely, one reason you might have a blemish on your financial record is due to errors submitted by a lender or credit reference agency. These could be as simple as a record of missed payments you actually made or incorrect details.

An error that isn’t of your own making can be easily disputed by reaching out to the relevant lender or credit agency and informing them of the mistake. You will have to submit evidence to back up your claim, at which point the lender or agency will investigate the issue.

2. Make a goodwill request for deletion

If there’s little room to dispute a default but you’re wondering how to remove items from your credit report yourself, you can try to reach out to your lender with a goodwill request for deletion.

Within this request, you will need to lay out why you feel the default in question should be removed. The lender will then decide whether or not to comply.

It’s important to remember that a lender is under no legal obligation to even consider a goodwill request.

A lender will also only ever consider removing a minor marker. They will not remove CCJs, bankruptcy, or other major indicators of your inability to make credit payments.

3. Pay off any outstanding debt

Although this doesn’t necessarily directly remove late payments from your credit report, paying off all your debts in full as soon as possible will make lenders much more likely to view your defaults in a good light. Even paying off a defaulted debt can help, changing the status from pending to paid on your report.

This tip is especially important for anyone with a CCJ. If paid off within the first month of receiving them, a CCJ will be entirely removed from your credit report.

4. Wait for your score to improve over time

It might not be what you want to hear, but the most reliable way to remove negative marks from your credit report is to wait until they’re naturally removed. No negative marks will stay on your record forever, and when they do disappear, there will be a marked improvement in your score.

What not to do when cleaning your credit score

Just as there are some tried-and-tested steps to remove defaults from your credit profile, there are some that you should definitely avoid.

Don’t close accounts in debt

If you have an account that still needs paying, closing it will do nothing to remove the default from your file. All closing will do is prevent you from using the account and make it harder to clear up its associated debt.

Filing for bankruptcy

Much like closing accounts, filing for bankruptcy also won’t remove negative information from your credit report. Instead, bankruptcy will leave a long-term stain on your accounts, despite the balance being set to zero. All associated accounts will be noted as having been designated bankrupt and heavily impact your overall score.

How long does a late payment stay on your credit report?

A standard missed payment or default will remain on your credit report for between six and seven years. Bankruptcy, on the other hand, will appear on your account for up to 10 years. As for hard and soft credit checks, hard checks appear on your record for a few months while soft checks never appear.

After these time markers have been reached, all associated default information will be removed. However, it will still be kept on record so it can be brought up as evidence if required for lenders.

Generally speaking, the best way to improve your credit score is by being careful with your credit spending and ensuring all repayments are made on time. Doing this will help offset the occasional black marks on your record and make getting finance easier.

But having a bad credit score doesn’t preclude you from applying for credit such as car finance. Here at Zuto, we specialise in providing bad credit car finance to those who need it. Get in touch with the team today to see how we can help you or visit our help and advice page for more information on handling bad credit.