Late payments are the most common negative mark on a credit report. One 30-day late payment can lower your credit score drastically and make it impossible for you to get approved for anything. The more recent the late payment and the longer it is late the more it hurts your credit score. Sometimes late payments can't be avoided and need to be fixed.

The best way to remove late payments is to contact your creditor directly that reported the late payment. If you have a good reputation with them, they might just remove your late payment on goodwill. Some companies have policies against removing late payments. They might also say they can't remove them after they are on there, but if they can put them on, they can take them off.

If you are severely late and owe them money you can also try negotiating with your creditors to remove your late payment. You can set up an agreement that upon final payment the late payment will be removed. Just make sure you get any such agreement in writing or it could come back to haunt you.

The most common way to remove late payments is through credit bureau disputes. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) allows consumers the right to dispute anything on their credit report they believe to be inaccurate or erroneous. The credit bureaus have 30 days to verify any dispute with the original creditor or it must be removed from your credit report. This will work for any item that you just want verified too.

Late payments can ruin your credit and must be taken care of. The best thing you can do is pay everything on time every time. But some late payments are unavoidable, that is why you must contact your creditor and credit bureaus to have them removed.