Removing Late Payments from Your Credit Report with a Goodwill Letter
Do you have late payments, or other negative information on your credit report? If you do and you are trying to secure a new loan for a mortgage, home equity loan or even a car loan, you may find that a these negative marks are preventing you from getting the best interest rates currently available.
When all your best efforts fail to clean up your credit report you still have one option left that can be very influencial to your situation. Writing a letter of "goodwill" is the last option you have to get the derogatory account information removed from your credit report on file.
This is how it works:
All credit card companies and other lending institutions have an interest in keeping customer satisfaction levels high. Very often in these times a consumer will miss a payment due date by a couple days or longer due to forgetfulness, carelessness, or even an exceptional tramatic event. If this is your case your final option (besides waiting 7 years for the bad mark to drop off your report) is to contact your creditor and ask them to remove the late payment from your account as a courtesy of doing business with them. Almost all the time the creditor will remove the late payment fee as a gesture of "goodwill".
Key Elements of a Successful Goodwill Letter:
When you decide you need to write a goodwill letter to your creditors there are several key elements that you must include to improve your chance of success.
1. Keep the tone of the letter respectful, friendly and to the point.
2. Thank the company for the services provided to you.
3. Admint it was your fault that you made the late payment(s).
4. Explain chaotic life event (or other reason) that caused you to miss the scheduled payment.
5. Discribe why it is important to you to have your account amended (an example might be you are preparing to apply for a new loan).
6. Thank them for taking their valuable time to read your letter.
Example Goodwill Letter:
Here is a good example of a goodwill letter that you can modify to fit your particular needs. Simply click the image below to see it full size.
