In some cases, creditors are willing to make a goodwill adjustment if your payment history has been good or if you have a good relationship with them. The process is easy: simply write a letter to your creditor explaining why you paid late. Ask them to forgive the late payment and assure them it won't happen again.
You can only get a late payment removed from your credit report if it was reported in error. To get an incorrect late payment removed from your credit report, you need to file a dispute with the credit bureau that issued the report containing the error.
Even if it's not your first time being late, you might be able to get it waived if you've paid on time for at least the past six to 12 months. Contact your card issuer to see if it will waive your late fee.
If there's an incorrect late payment on your credit reports, you can file a dispute with the creditor or the corresponding credit bureau to try and get the mark removed. But if the late payment is correct, you should know you probably won't be able to get rid of the derogatory mark before its time.
A 609 letter is a credit repair method that requests credit bureaus to remove erroneous negative entries from your credit report. It's named after section 609 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a federal law that protects consumers from unfair credit and collection practices.
Many people don't realize that they can appeal a credit card late fee — especially if it's their first late payment. Many issuers will waive late fees as a courtesy to customers with good payment records. Call your issuer, explain the situation and ask a customer service representative if they can waive the fee.
Even a single late or missed payment may impact credit reports and credit scores. But the short answer is: late payments generally won't end up on your credit reports for at least 30 days after the date you miss the payment, although you may still incur late fees.
I respectfully request that you forgive my alleged debt, as my condition precludes any employment, and my current and future income does not support any debt repayment. Please respond to my request in writing to the address below at your earliest convenience. Thank you in advance for your understanding of my situation.
I am sorry that you have not yet received my payment this month. I recently found an error in my account and didn't want to send the payment until I was sure that check would not be returned. The bank has since accepted responsibility for the error, and I plan to have the funds transferred to you immediately.
A goodwill letter is a request to creditors to remove negative remarks from your credit reports. As the name “goodwill” suggests, this request puts it on the creditor to make a good-faith effort to cooperate and work with a client or customer, and to establish a good business reputation with its clients.
It may also characterize a longer credit history with a few mistakes along the way, such as occasional late or missed payments, or a tendency toward relatively high credit usage rates. Late payments (past due 30 days) appear in the credit reports of 33% of people with FICO® Scores of 700.
People with an average credit score of 670 could see their score drop down to around 520 or 530 after a 30-day late payment. That could be a possible drop of 150 points. Consumers with a score of 720 could see that score drop down to 580 or 590 after a 30-day late payment. That's a possible drop of 140 points.
A goodwill credit adjustment is a request to remove valid delinquencies or otherwise negative payment history from a credit report.
It may take a few months to recover from a hard inquiry, a few months (or years) to recover from a 30-day late payment, and much longer to recover from a 90-day late payment or other major negative mark (such as a foreclosure).
If you're more than 30 days late
Bring your account current as soon as possible. Thirty days late is bad, but it's not as bad as 60, which is not as bad as 90. The sooner you can catch up, the less damage to your credit.
Neither you nor a credit repair company can remove accurately reported late payment information from your credit reports. But if you believe there might be an error, you can contact us to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information.
Late payments can stay on your credit reports for up to seven years. If you believe a late payment is being reported in error, you can dispute the information with Experian. You can also contact the original creditor directly to voice your concern and ask them to investigate.
The 609 dispute letter is often referred to as the “legal loophole”, or the “credit repair secret' and can be useful in different situations. Apart from correcting your credit report, the 609 letter could be what you need to respond to a debt collection lawsuit.
The letter requests an investigation into the disputed information under Section 623 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), aiming to correct errors and ensure the accuracy of the credit report. This process allows individuals to address and rectify any inaccuracies that may impact their creditworthiness.
Federal Legislative Activity in 2023
Amend Section 604(c) of the FCRA to address the treatment of pre-screening report requests. Section 604(c) governs the furnishing of reports in connection with credit or insurance transactions that are not initiated by the consumer.
You can also make a goodwill request by phone, but the customer service representatives who answer usually do not have the authority to make such changes to your account. If you can reach someone higher up in the company, you're more likely to have success.
Negotiating a pay for delete settlement agreement begins with a call or a letter to a collection agency. In your call or letter, you offer to settle a debt (or pay a debt in full) if the debt collector will agree to ask the credit bureau(s) to remove the negative item from your credit report(s).