如何拯救忘记信用卡还款所带来的信用分数大幅度下降

牧羊场在之前的文章给大家提及了信用以及信用分数的重要性在美国，以及如何能快速的积攒分数。但是能破坏我们信用分数的最大黑手是什么呢？那就是忘记还款。英文 term 叫做 delinquency。

信用卡忘记还款

After you miss your second payment, you are 30 days delinquent and so on. Technically, a consumer becomes delinquent after missing a single monthly payment. However, delinquency is not generally reported to the major credit bureaus until two consecutive payments have been missed.

信用卡忘记还款的阶段

按照忘记还款的天数，delinquency分为三个Stage：

1. Due Day过后的30天之内，银行是不会报告给各大信用机构（Credit Bureau）的，基于银行和用户的相互谅解，及所谓的Courtesy。这期间，银行会收取Late Fee 和 Interest。但是大家注意，在这期间，你如果及时把欠款付清，那不妨立马给银行的Customer Service打电话，想好理由，例如这段时间自己工作太忙，旅行太多，大家自行脑补各种理由哈。银行一般都会把Late Fee 和Interest 给你Waive掉。在美国生活，这些基本的Argue技巧还是要掌握的。
2. Due Day  过后的 30-60天，这时候会根据各个银行开始有不同。有些银行不会report给信用机构，但是有些会，例如FIA，据我所知，过了30天之后就会report给信用机构。
3. Due Day 过后的60天，这时候，事情变的很严肃，因为银行首先关掉你的信用卡，然后report各大信用机构。而且一旦这个Delinquency被信用机构定性，那么将会carry on 7年在你的信用报告上面。首先，你的信用分数会大幅下降，保守估计60-100分之间都有可能，直接后果就是你可能以后租房会有问题，因为有好多房主需要你的信用报告，长远一些有可能会影响到你买房买车。最严重的是可能，非常非常小的可能性，除非是特殊职位，雇主会觉得你的background check fail掉，但是这个基本不可能。

俗话说人非圣贤孰能无过，尤其是当我们信用卡的数量越来越多，工作越来越忙，难免会有意外发生。现在我们就来讨论一下，我们如何才能乾坤大挪移，拯救我们的信用分数。

如何解决信用卡忘记还款所带来的后果

如果我们发现我忘记还款过了在30天之内，立马还钱，致电银行，一切都没问题。但是如果超过了30天或是更加严重超过了60天，就需要我们动动脑筋了。我们在之前的帖子中反复提过，衡量一个人的信用是比较复杂的事情，需要综合考虑，包括你所持有的信用卡数量，种类，你是否按时还款，是否有房贷车贷等等。所以如果这次超过60天的late payment在你的信用卡生涯中，是第一次发生，那么基本上可以肯定没问题。

1.电话银行客服，一般普通的客服，给出答案是“我们都是按照规定，提交到了Bureau，就不能更改”。但是不要放弃，要求和manager直接对话，这时候一定要哭爹喊娘，细说自己的各种情况，跪求 manager做Investigation。比如，我一共7张信用卡，每张信用卡我都一直按时还款，没有任何不良记录，我还有车贷，我有全职工作，完全有能力偿还payment，下次一定改正，并且设置成autopay，再比如，我这段时间由于工作在全美和世界各地travel，很多时候网络，让我错过和忘记了还款。记得态度一定要真诚，不能修饰的部分是我们有多少信用卡，因为这个可以从信用报告看到，但是可以修饰的是，你的工作繁忙程度，manager可以问你，但是他们是不会也不能让你出示。其实你说什么不重要，你的理由只是让manager可以帮咱们开始做Investigation。他们会查看你的信用记录，来综合考虑，如果之前没有任何不良记录，是一定会通过的。具体流程就是银行和Credit Bureau联系取消这个Delinquency，然后要等大概4个星期的时间，Credit Bureau会完成update，这时候再去Credit Karma上查看信用分数，应该已经涨回来了。

2.除此之外有些银行会要求用户提交一个书面的解释他们才能开始做Investigation，这里面给大家贴一个我之前用过的Goodwill Letter, 希望对大家有用。

如果解决最坏的结果

如果经过上面的努力，银行还是不能撤回或是取消我们的delinquency，那么我们的信用分数会有极大的下降。这个有可能带来很多非常负面的效果，例如买房购车等等，理论上最高7年才可以去掉这个delinquency。

那么我们怎么办？很难办。我们首先需要确保现在手上现有的信用卡和任何其他贷款都能做到按时还款并且保持很好的花费金额，就是让人看到尽力重塑信用的努力。然后就是每年向信用局提交Request，接受自己为了改善和重塑信用分数所做的努力，例如按时还款，工资提高，新增多少存款等等，所以很多人事实上是不需要等到7年就可以恢复信用分数的。

牧羊场总结

在美国生活都知道信用分数的重要性，因为信用卡忘记还款而产生的信用分数下降可以说是非常不值当的，最简单的办法无非就是设置自动还款，一劳永逸。

 

To Fidelity Investment Bank

Re: Account Number: XXXXXXXXXXX

Dear Credit Card Company,
I am writing to you today regarding my account #XXXXXX. The purpose of my correspondence is to see if you would be willing to make a “goodwill” adjustment on the reporting of this account to the three credit agencies. I would like to explain the situation and ask for your courtesy of removing delinquency from three major credit bureau files (Experian, TransUnion, & Equifax). I sincerely hope your credit department can investigate my case and give me a chance to fix this and rebuild my relationship with FIA. I am willing to do everything that I can do to remedy this.

I understand that paying the bill on time was my responsibility. I am not attempting to justify this breach of our user agreement, I sincerely hope you might review the circumstance under which this non-payment occurred and consider removing the negative trade line associated with this account. As soon as I found there is a balance pass due, I immediately contact your consumer service and paid the balance in full. Please give me a chance to explain the circumstance.

First, I was very busy and traveling very frequently for business and personal affairs. I forgot to bring FIA with me. I thought there was no balance on this card (36.82 dollar balance). I know this is definitely not an excuse. I am just willing to let you know this post due is rare to me. Here are the details of my travel. I certainly can submit my evidence if you would like to check.

12/17/2014 – 12/25/2014 Puerto Rico, Vocation
12/26/2105- 01/02/2015 Las Vegas – Death Valley, Vocation
01/04/2015 – 01/15/2015 Tennessee, Knoxville, Business
01/17/2015- 01/23/2015 From New Jersey to King of Prussia, PA, Business
02/12/2015-02/15/2015 Washington, DC, Personal Affairs
02/25/2015-02/29/2015 Jersey Shore, PA, Business
03/05/2015-03/08/2015 Philadelphia, PA, Business and Personal Affairs

Second, I hold this FIA Amex credit since 2011. I have been a very loyal member of FIA more than 4 years. I also hold the debit card from FIA investments too. I keep good relationship with FIA and I did enjoy the benefits along with FIA investment rewards card. I really appreciate FIA issued my second credit card. In order to avoid this again, I will set up auto payment as well as notice warning on my calendar.

Third, I have an excellent credit history. My current FICO score is 730. Please do me a favor to check out my full credit report. I have more than 10 credit cards from nearly all the major banks. I also have one car mortgage from Toyota. I keep all of them in good track, low balance, and pay them on time.

Forth, I am working as a fulltime since last June. The annual salary is around 60,000 dollars. I do not have financial crisis. I am willing to submit my W2 to your office for check. I know this is definitely not an excuse neither, I am simply hoping you can understand that I have the ability to pay my credit card and I did not delay this payment on purpose.

I have been to USA for almost 5 years. I understand how important to keep good credit for my current and future life. Please give me a chance to remedy this one-time mistake. I am willing to make the commitment to rebuilding trust with your FIA. I sincerely appreciate all your time and effort.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can provide to affect to your decision and please also to contact me by phone or email if need be. Thank you.

Sincerely,