<prompt> Human: Long story short, I messed up my credit in my early 20s. I spent the end of my late 20s working on credit cards, taxes, etc. Once I got past those hurdles I started working on my school loan. Many negative items have fallen off my credit history but some late payments early on in my school loan repayment plan are destroying my credit score. Do I have any options? The service I am repaying through is Great Lakes. Any other advice would be appreciated as well. I learn a lot from this sub. Thank you.  <response>: If its your fault, no.. theres not really a way to remove late payments. I had a couple of bankers tell me that theres less impact for late payments on closed accounts than on open accounts I havent verified this.. - if thats the case, you could help yourself by refinancing with another lender.If people get special treatment on credit scoring, the scores dont have much use. But.. you can always call them and whine about it. It probably wont help.However, you shouldnt be too concerned because those late payments have less impact as time goes on, and eventually after 7 years, they fall off your report. 