Think I can bribe the phone company to take late payments off my credit report?

I've always been a bit cavalier about my phone bill, I often carrry a balance for a while. Once or twice over the years I've gotten my service temporarily interrupted until I paid Bell the full balance but I never expected anything actually negative to happen. A few months ago Bell place an entry on my credit report and I now have 4 late payment marks. That's not helping my score at all and I'm trying to qualify for a mortgage next spring.

So this morning I was wondering, do you think if I offered to extend my service contract a few more years they could be persuaded to remove the bad entries? I'm fairly certain they have the ability if they're so inclined.

You can always offer a "pay for delete" if there is a balance. Some companies will agree to this just to get their past due money.

There is also what is called a "good will" request, where you plead your case and ask them to remove it. This is your best option if you have already paid them.

They are not required to do remove the baddies, but might.

No you can't bribe the phone company into removing late payments from your credit report. If you have problems paying your phone bill you will not have much success getting a mortgage.

You can ask but I doubt the CSR's have that authority.

Doesn't hurt to try.

Not a chance.