Expert: David - 3/7/2009

Question
Is it legal for the credit union that I have my car loan with to send me to the creditors 30 days after the due date with no notice?  After 10 years of doing business with this credit union and never having a late payment, they turned me into the creditors on the 30th day after the due date on my first late payment I have ever made.  Is that right?  Isn't there some kind of law that says that they have to notify you of their intentions to report you to the creditors before they do so?  I'm in the process for trying to buy a house and get a small business loan and this ruined everything for me.  That one late payment dropped my score 70 points, is that legal and is there anything I can do about it?

Answer
They can report you 1 day after the due date if they want too.  Most lenders offer a 15-30 day grace period before reporting a late pay.  It is all in the fine print of your loan.

Short of getting the credit union to reverse it the best bet is to dispute it with the credit reporting agencies directly.  You can hire a professional to do this for you or with a little research you can do it yourself.  Just don't do it on-line.  It reduces your chances of having the item removed greatly.

David
www.financialscoringsolutions.com