Remove Late Payments From Your Credit Report With a Goodwill Letter
Late payments can hurt your credit score, especially if you stop paying on loans or credit cards for an extended period of time. And while we typically tell you that there are no shortcuts to repairing your credit score, there are several legal actions you can take to improve your score faster. Let’s take a look at one of them: writing a goodwill letter.
What is a good letter?
A goodwill letter is a simple way to restore good credit by asking the lender or servicer to remove a late payment from your credit report. They can be used effectively for both federal and private loans, as well as for credit cards and accounts at almost any financial institution.
You generally have a better chance of success with goodwill letters if you are facing financial hardship due to unforeseen circumstances. The letter allows you to take responsibility for your actions and ask (in a very nice way) if your service staff can sympathize with the situation causing the delay and remove it from your report.
A voluntary letter may also be useful if you believe that the delinquency was recorded in error: for example, if you were in a deferment or forbearance state and were not obligated to make any payments at the time the delinquency was recorded, or if you know that you have never been late with a payment before.
What makes a goodwill letter persuasive?
If you’ve been looking for ways to make sure your goodwill letter actually works, here are some tips on what you should include:
Grateful tone
It is important that the entire tone of your letter reads as gratitude and good faith. If you are truly late on a payment, even due to extenuating circumstances, you should not become angry in your letter because you were in the wrong.
Sense of responsibility
You want to be persuasive and honest. Take responsibility for the late payment and explain why it happened. Your creditor or creditor should be able to sympathize with you. Saying you simply forgot won’t win you any points.
Good recent payment history
In addition to earning their sympathy, you want to gain the lender’s trust and confidence that you can continue making payments. If they see payments being made on time before and after a period of financial hardship, they may be willing to give you a break. If you have a habit of late payments, it’s harder to convince them that you’re serious about it.
Confirmation of any errors and relevant documents.
If you write about an error that occurred, maintain a polite tone and support the errors you find with documentation. You will need evidence that what you are saying is true. Unfortunately, errors in credit reports are not uncommon , and there could very well be a technical error on the part of your servicer. If you have written correspondence with them, please include it.
Keep in mind that credit bureaus usually have the ability to flag discrepancies and potential errors directly from your report when you access it online, so you may not even have to write a formal letter to dispute the error.
Brevity
The last thing to keep in mind is that a short and simple letter will be more effective. When telling your story, get straight to the point. People looking at your writing don’t want to read the essay; The easier you make their life, the higher your chances of a favorable outcome.
Samples of kind letters
Below is a sample goodwill letter for a student loan:
To whom It May Concern,
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I just received my credit report and discovered that on [date] a payment was reported late on my account [credit account number].
At this time, my mother became deathly ill, and I was the only one who could take care of her. So I had to quit my job and my savings went towards her healthcare expenses. After her death, I fell on very hard times and was unable to pay my student loans.
I realize I made a mistake by falling behind, but up to this point my payment history with you has been flawless. Once I was able to get a job again, I quickly resumed paying off my student loans, making them a priority.
I am not proud of this negative mark on my report, but it is the only one I have and I would be extremely grateful if you would honor this request and remove the delinquency from my credit report. This would greatly help me in securing other lines of credit so that I could further improve my credit score.
If the delay cannot be eliminated completely, I would still appreciate it if you would make an adjustment to the goodwill.
Thank you.
If you’re writing a letter because the delinquency listed on your credit report is incorrect, try this template:
To whom It May Concern,
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I recently reviewed my credit report and discovered that [loan servicer] reported a delinquency on my account [credit account number].
I request that this late payment be assessed for accuracy.
I believe this message is incorrect because [list the supporting facts you have]. I have included documentation confirming that I made payments during this time/that my loans were in deferment/forbearance and did not require any payments.
Please investigate this matter and if it is found to be inaccurate, remove the hold from my credit report.
Thank you.
Be sure to tailor the letter to your situation; you want to provide as much personal information as possible. You should also include your name, address, and telephone number at the top of the letter in case the loan servicer needs to contact you immediately.
What to include in a goodwill letter
Don’t let your efforts go to waste by forgetting to include documentation with your letter. Here’s a quick checklist of what you should include:
-
Account number for your loan.
-
Your name, mailing address, telephone number and email address.
-
Statements confirming payment (if you are disputing a late payment).
-
Documentation showing that you have paid on time in all other cases, unless you are experiencing financial hardship.
-
Identification documentation so your service personnel know you submitted the request.
-
This isn’t necessarily something “inclusive,” but if you’re sending something by mail, you should send it via certified mail so you have proof that your mail reached its destination.
Where to send a goodwill letter
Now that your letter is written, you need to send it! You may be able to do this from your online account with the lender via secure message, but you can also mail a copy. Find the best mailing address on your most recent bank statement or on your lender’s or creditor’s “Contact Us” web page.
It is important to note that goodwill letters do not guarantee immediate results. It often takes several attempts to correspond with servicers and lenders before they confirm that they have received a letter from you.
If all else fails, try as many different methods of communication as possible: call, email, chat , send them an email. Several people who have tried this method report that you can bore your service provider with a barrage of requests.
This post was originally published in 2015 and updated on April 7, 2020 by Lisa Rowan and again on November 14, 2024 by Meredith Dietz to meet Lifehacker’s editorial standards. This post originally appeared on Magnify Money.