Question Regarding Late Mortage Payment & Credit Scores

[markp]

I have a question regarding late mortage payments & credit history. Last summer I got in an unfortunate situation of my spouse being out of work and had no choice but to "rework" our mortage and extend out a few more years. I did not realize what a slow process this was and held off paying my mortage which in the end ammounted to 90 days out now on my credit report. A lot of factors contributed due to paperwork not getting where it was supposed to be, people who were handling my case transfering it to another rep etc. and my failure to continue following up.

This was 1 isolated incident and am taking this rather hard as I have always had excellent credit. Just went to purchase a car a few weeks ago, closed the deal and then found out I qualified but for a much higher rate and that my payments would be nearly $22 more a month. Needless to say I could not swing the car.

I guess my question is how long is this going to carry with me and is there any way to get this decreased as it was just an isolated incident?

Talk about learning the hard way....ughh.