Before you send a letter to a creditor asking for a late payment to be deleted for no reason other than “goodwill,” read this.
Before social media was a big part of life, before the pandemic, before the recession, waaay back when more people were truth-tellers and fewer people carried an attitude of entitlement, goodwill letters did work.
A goodwill letter is when you write to a creditor and explain that the reason you were late on a payment was due to some rare and specific hardship, and that you are so sorry and never meant to be late, and that you adore being a customer and would like to continue shopping at their fine establishment, so would they please forgive the late payment and remove it from your credit file? You would be so grateful and the love relationship would then continue. But that doesn’t work anymore.
First off, why would they believe you? Did you include any documentation to prove your story? Maybe a hospital bill and a letter from your employer to show you were laid up and out of work? If not, you’re wasting everyone’s time.
Secondly, the giant national creditors like Capital One, Chase, and Visa are too big to care. You signed an agreement to pay on time, regardless of circumstances — unless you took out a special insurance as protection. Your goodwill letter is one of thousands, and they’re giving every one of them a rubber stamp NO.
Only the rare smaller establishment might consider a goodwill gesture like deleting a late payment from a customer’s history. And for that, you need to locate the right executive to write to, address them politely by name, explain the situation succinctly yet compellingly, and include documentation that verifies your story.
THE RISK FACTOR OF SENDING A GOODWILL LETTER
When you send a goodwill request, you are asking for a favor. This means you are verifying that you were indeed late on your payment on that date. If they deny your request, you have nowhere else to go. Your challenge is over, and now you wait out the time for the late payment to age off your report.
A BETTER STRATEGY
The strategy is in the details. If the late payment was posted on the wrong date or the date of the late pay shows on a different month for Experian, Equifax, and Transunion, that is an opportunity to request an investigation and possible deletion.
However, if the isolated late payment is old, don’t be overly concerned. The older it gets, the less it impacts your credit score. Once it is past the 12-month mark, mortgage lenders usually won’t ask about it. If you’ve the account for more than three years, leave it open. Don’t shut it down and don’t delete the entire account. It’s doing you more good than harm.
Analyze why you were late and then create a solution so it won’t happen again. Onward and upward — you’re going to be just fine.
makes sense, social media has made things worse, not a member of these groups except for maybe you tube mainly for how to content, repairs etc. thanks again for your further advice.
HEAR IS SMETHING I CAME ACROSS IN THE CREDIT WORLD, TRIED APPLYING BY ACCIDENT FOR ANOTHER PERSONAL LOAN, NOW HAVE 1 HARD INQUIRY, BUT WITHIN 30 DAYS ALL THREE OF MY CREDIT CARDS RAISED MY COMBINED CREDIT LIMIT BY ALMOST 3500.00, ITS NICE BUT WILL NOT USE THE EXTRA CREDIT, BECAUSE RATES ARE JUST CRAZY. EXCEPT DISCOVER MY FAVORITE CARD, OFFERS 1% CASH BACK, PLUS FROM TIME TO TIME. .09% INTEREST FOR 6 MONTHS ON NEW PURCHASES AND OTHER ENTICING OFFERS. I HAVE LEARNED TO BUY NO MORE THAN I CAN PAY BACK
With your new lower balance-to-available-credit ratio, you might see your credit scores go up. You are smart not to pay crazy high interest! Well done with controlling your spending, too. That’s how the people with top tier credit live.
Written very well however there are something i don’t believe to be true such as the bigs you listed do sometimes listen, I’ve gotten Discover, Capone, Synchrony / Amazon/Paypal, AMEX ALL to remove multiple lates from my credit report up to 120 days late. Yes the chances are slime but saying there’s NO CHANCE doesn’t give anyone hope especially people who are desperate to try and repair their credit to better their life. In my experience its actually the exact opposite. Its the smalls/ predatory lenders (merrick, indigo, first premier bank) who are actually the worst to deal with when trying to get a something removed. Advice to them keep trying and do some research there’s plenty of people who have had such is using goodwill’s.
Thank you for weighing in on this important topic. Since this post was originally written, I have modified my view of Goodwill Letters. In Chapter 10 of Book 2, Repair Your Credit Like the Pros, I talk about both a successful Goodwill Letter and a Courtesy Request Letter. The difference is explained, and I include one Goodwill Letter and two Courtesy Request Letters that have worked in the past. They are not guaranteed to work with every creditor, but they do provide a framework for writing one or the other if a person wants to try that strategy. If you’d like to take a look at the book, it is on Amazon http://tinyurl.com/37emkdcp.
Thanks again for participating in the discussion.
I will definitely check it out, I’m always open to learn new things from other’s experiences and just keep up with things. To be honest didn’t expect an answer at all. Thanks for the reply! 100% agree it’s always worth a try and nothing is ever guaranteed.