Goodwill Adjustment Letters
| by Jim Wang |  Print Article
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If you’ve ever gotten an insufficient funds fee or a over-the-limit penalty fee or a late payment penalty fee, you probably have tried to get it removed by asking nicely. My wife is really good at this, she could probably sweet talk a Citi CSR into giving her a refund and a bouquet of flowers for the hassle of calling them up! Whether you’re nice like my wife or simply good at pointing at the financial benefits of keeping you as a customer (that’s how I roll… d20 save vs. financial realities sucka), you can employ this strategy in a vareity of places… including your credit history.
If you have some legitimate negative items (late payments) on your credit history, you might be able to get them removed by using a Goodwill Adjustment Letter. Some companies won’t report 30-day and 60-day late payments, it’s really not worth it, but if you review your report and see some late payments, you might be able to use a Goodwill Adjustment Letter to get those things removed.
While you could try this for any negative items, it’s most effective for negative items that are a year old or more. It’s important to show that those late payments were an aberration and that you’ve improved your finances such that it won’t happen again.
Goodwill Adjustment Letter Template
[Your Name]
[Address]
[Date]
[Company Name, Department]
[Address][Company Representative],
I understand that you’re extremely busy but I hope you can find time to consider this request for me. I have been a [Company Name] customer since [Year] and during that time, I have enjoyed my experience with your company.I am contacting you to see if you would be willing to make a “goodwill” adjustment to your reporting to the three credit agencies. I have [Number] late payments on the above referenced account that date back [Number] months. Since that time I have been an exceptional customer paying every month on time.
Because of my overall exceptional payment history with your company over the last [Number] years, I would like you to consider removing the negative payments from my credit report. I have been a very happy customer in the past and hope to continue a long relationship with [Company Name].
I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
Making A Case
The template, while a good starting point, can’t be all that you write. It’s important to build a case to the company as to why they should adjust your report. If you can explain away some of the late payments, it will go a long way to convincing them to do it. For example, if you were a college student and simply careless, say that. If you were lost your job or moved, let them know. If the majority of your lates were of the 30 day variety, tell them that too.
Good luck!
{ 11 comments, please add your thoughts now! }
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Tags: Credit History
Nov 12, 2008 | Read more in Credit
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There is no real reason why you couldn’t use a further variation on this template to request other kinds of concessions as well, e.g. an increased credit limit, lowered interest rate, extension to a promotional rate, etc. For that matter, it is also not constrained to creditors. It essentiall boils down to this: “I’ve been a good customer. Want to keep me? This would be a nice thing for you to do.”
Yes, you definitely could, but I think that for many of those you can just call rather than make a written appeal. Threatening to change providers is a great way to get concessions but you can’t go that route with this sort of thing.
…d20 save vs. financial realities sucka…
Jim, you’re my kind of nerd. Awesome!
I’m guessing that letters like these will work better if you not only pay on time but also are a profitable customer by carrying balances and paying interest. On the other hand, if this is a revolving credit account which you pay to zero every month, that is not a good customer for them.
This actually happened to me a couple of days ago. a company overcharged me 12 times in error and I overdrafted in my checking. I called them up requesting them to kindly remove the overdraft fees and they said that since it was not a bank issue they would only meet me half way. I then brought up the fact that I have been a ‘loyal customer’ for the past 10 years, have my student loans with them AND just opened a savings account.
After 2 minutes on hold the overdraft fees were fully waived
No harm in asking!
Larry @ theluckymoneycat
Jim, I have a card that have been generally unresponsive to verbal requests for a lower rate. I will be paying them off and shutting them down shortly, exactly as I have verbally promised them I would do, but I was thinking of making one final written appeal. That was the sort of thinking behind my initial response.
Forgot to mention . . . as Larry pointed out, this same card has been generally responsive with requests to waive fees.
I wonder if cards would reply with a letter letting you know if your request has been accepted or rejected. I do suppose keeping the card but not using it isn’t going to hurt. Please let us know how it turns out if you do send a letter.
Gods, the roll reference made me cringe (purely because I can relate). Good template and suggestions though. Note for others: there’s a clear distinction between asking for goodwill adjustment and disputing incorrect information. If negatives are shown in credit report that aren’t due to your mistake, skip the letters and dispute accordingly!
Nice template — I’ll have to keep it in mind if I ever find myself in that situation. I hate doing these things over the phone, so I’d probably jump straight to a written request.
Nice d20 reference.