When it comes to a consumer's credit report, having the best one on the block is pretty important. Your high credit scores open all kinds of financial doors that might otherwise have remained closed to you; making your potential to obtain new lines of credit a near certainty.

So it's no surprise then, that everyone who knows this wants their credit reports looking as clean as possible before they seriously consider filling out loan applications, and that means credit restoration.

The purpose of this article will be to teach you the best method for removing 2 of the worst kinds of accounts from your credit profile: late payments and charge-offs.

Removing charge-offs

First of all, no, a "charge-off" does not mean that the bank or creditor forgot about the account. Quite the opposite, actually - an account that's been charged-off has been written off by the original creditor as uncollectable, which usually results in them selling the account to a collection agency. Now you've got the original account listed as charged-off (which already looks bad on its own), and a collection agency trying to get the debt paid.

Fortunately, there are ways of having these blemishes removed from your credit report.

If the account happens to be past your state's Statute of Limitations, the creditors no longer have any legal right to the money. If it isn't, you'll need to pay up - with no guarantees of removing a charge-off from your credit report when you do.

If the account is actually yours, you'll need to pay it off, and unfortunately there's no guarantee it'll be removed from your report. You'll have more luck trying to get it removed if you deal with the original creditor directly though, not the collection agency it's been sold to.

Ask them if they'd be open to a Pay for Delete Agreement. This will essentially delete the account from your report once it's been paid off, and is the best outcome you can hope for if the account's been verified. Not every creditor is open to this, but most are happy to get whatever settlement they can out of you.

Removing Late Payments

Everybody falls behind on one of their credit accounts at some point in their lives. Making a habit of it can be dangerous for your credit history, though.

Your payment history is extremely important - it makes up the highest percentage of your overall credit score; 35%, according to FICO. Missing too many payments over a short period of time could cost you a lot more points than you're likely willing to part with, so it's important to stay on time with your payments.

So how do you remove late paymentsfrom your credit report? It's actually easier than it may seem, provided you haven't consistently been 90+ days late on many of your credit accounts.

We all know that to err is human, and your credit report account listings are no exception. If you check your account history, you might find that their records aren't on the same page as your own. If your creditors say you've been late on your payments, and your records show otherwise, ask the credit bureaus to investigate the accounts themselves. They have 30 days to look into your claims and report back to you.

If they can verify that you have been late, you still have options open to you. You can try sending your creditor a letter of goodwill explaining your lapse in payment and ask that they remove the late payments once you're caught up. Again, there's no guarantee it'll work (some creditors will outright refuse you), but you'll be surprised what many creditors will do to keep you as a customer.