How to correct a late payment record on your credit report

Your credit report sums up your credit history of the past 36 months, indicating your ability to repay lenders and financial institutions, who often refer to your credit report before sanctioning a loan. Making sure your credit report is accurate, which also helps ensure your credit score is accurate, can help you get faster approval on a personal loan and other loans.

With late payment records on your credit report, your credit score is impacted and you are likely to face credit rejection from most lenders. Some lenders may offer you loans despite the late payment record; however, the interest on these loans may be higher than normal. Apart from this, a few studies have also shown that a 30-day delay can bring your credit score down by almost 100 points. While it is important to remember to never miss your EMIs and pay them on time, here is what you can do about late payment records that are already on your credit report.

What to do if you have not made a late payment

One of the main reasons why checking your credit report regularly is essential is to ensure that your credit report is free of any discrepancies. To perform a free CIBIL check, simply visit the Bajaj Finserv website and enter your basic details to check your CIBIL score for free. In some cases, late payment records are issued due to inaccurate information. In order to deal with such a situation, you first need to verify any such discrepancy in your credit history.

You can do this by checking your credit report from CIBIL or other agencies operating in India, including Experian, Equifax, and Highmark. Once you have confirmed that there is a late payment on your credit report, you can raise a dispute. Apart from raising a dispute to the credit bureau, you can also contact your lender for precise details.

What to do if you have made a late payment

If you have defaulted on making your payment, here are a few ways in which you can get your late payment record taken care of.

1. Ask for a goodwill adjustment

If you have had a good repayment history with your lender or the financial institution you are borrowing from, you can ask for a goodwill adjustment. You can request your lender to remove the late payment record, keeping in mind your past history of timely payments. However, it is up to the lender to agree to your request or decline it.

2. Set up automatic payments

While asking your lender to take a late payment record off your profile, they may request you to apply for an auto-debit system to avoid missing payment due dates in the future. This is done to give the lender some assurance that you will not miss out on another payment again.

3. Make a partial payment

In case your lender hasn’t agreed to a goodwill adjustment, you can make a partial payment or a part-prepayment towards your outstanding balance to request them to remove the late payment remark from your profile.

4. Pay off the complete outstanding balance

You can also consider paying off the entire outstanding balance if you have the funds available and ask your lender to remove the late payment record in return.

Avoid late payments and try to make amends towards existing late payments to ensure that your credit score and credit report remain unaffected. This will help you get both collateral-free and secured loans at a more affordable rate.