late payments on credit card

That late can stay on there 7 years from time it happened. I would send a letter to the credit card company asking them to remove the late as a gesture of goodwill since the account is been on time since then.

Cajunbulldog is right as usual. Credit card companies are very competetive with each other and want to keep people who pay on time especially if there paying a right interest rate. I would ask them in good faith as Cajunbulldog says and ask for a lower rate also. If they decline tell them you are considering tranferring the balance to another card. You will probably come out well.

I would add to document all creditors.Save all your papers. I was accused of being late by four creditors.By reviewing the statements and postmarks,we concluded the creditor had made either a billing or mailing error every time,so no lates were reported and creditor threw in extra reward points to sooth our tempers. Frog is correct on competition.About five years ago,my wife and I were ratejacked with appr. 20K in credit card debt. We called everyone and they would not back down. 12 creditors lost accounts immediately as I closed every one of them and put the debt in a low interest consolidation loan.My current creditors had this explained to them when I opened the account.

I would also call and ask if they could remove the strike against you and also see about lowering your rate. I used to do that every 6 months or so.
Sometimes I would threaten that I had another company that wanted to give me a credit card at (just make up a rate lower than what they are offering). Most of the time they would put me on hold and then come back and say they could go lower to keep my business.