Clearing up credit

I realize now that I should have avoided this company. In 2004 I opened an account with gemb care credit. I paid off my account with in one year and took advantage of the free intrest. I requested the account to be closed at that time. However my husband just pulled our report. It shows that the account that I had long forgotten about was closed last month and had a 30 day late payment. I now have a ding on my credit report. My score is in the 700s and my husbands is in the 800s. Is it worth my time and energy to try to clear this up? They seem dishonest to me and I wonder if it will just cause further trouble. thanks Laurel

I hope you communicated the company through certified letter. If yes, then you've a document to prove that you had asked them to close the account. You can then send a dispute letter to the credit bureau asking them to remove the incorrect listing.

If the 30 day late was more than 2 years ago, the impact on your FICO is neglible. You can take a couple approaches.
1)dispute as never late with the CRA's
2) write a goodwill letter to the OC and either provide documentation that you were not late or ask that out of a gesture of goodwill, they remove the derogatory mark form their tradeline. Pour on the sugar