Payment history is 35% — and recency is why
One recent late can outweigh several old ones. Time is doing more work than payments.
Payment history is the largest single input into a FICO score, but it isn't a simple count of lates. Models weight severity (30 days vs. 90 vs. charge-off), recency (a late last month hurts far more than one from four years ago), and frequency together.
That's why the recovery curve is steep at first and then flattens. Getting current stops the bleeding immediately; the remaining damage decays on its own as the delinquency ages. Nothing you can pay for accelerates that decay — but disputing a late that's reported inaccurately can remove it outright.
The rest of this is inside the portal
The step-by-step tactics, exact wording, and escalation sequence live in your Fix My Reports workspace, where they're applied to your own report items. Start with a $1 trial, then $50/month — cancel anytime.