Goodwill letters: when they work, when they don't, and a sample

Nine years of on-time payments, then a hospital stay, a stack of mail nobody opened, and one 30-day late on a card you’ve had since college. That late is accurate. It’s also the kind of thing a goodwill letter was made for.

In a goodwill letter, you ask the lender to remove an accurate late payment as a favor. Knowing what that favor costs the lender, and why many say no, tells you how to write a request with a real chance.

Why a lender is allowed to say no

Credit reporting law is built around accuracy, not forgiveness. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a lender that reports to the bureaus must not furnish information it knows or has reasonable cause to believe is inaccurate (15 U.S.C. 1681s-2(a)(1)). It also has to correct and update information it determines is incomplete or inaccurate (1681s-2(a)(2)).

Nothing in those duties gives you a right to have an accurate late removed. Some lenders read their accuracy obligations as a reason to refuse every goodwill request, and they’ll tell you so in a form reply. Others will occasionally make an exception for a long-standing customer. Policies vary by lender and can change, and none of the big issuers publish their approval rates.

Set your expectations accordingly. A goodwill letter costs you a stamp or a secure message and 20 minutes, and it often doesn’t work. A polite request carries little risk, though.

When a request has a fair shot

Your odds depend mostly on what the lender sees when it pulls up your account. The reads below are our judgment calls.

The last row matters. If the lender reported you late in error, skip the favor. The law requires a correction, so dispute it.

What to put in the letter

Short beats long. A customer service or executive response team reads a lot of these. Include:

• Identification: your name, the account’s last four digits, and the month or months reported late.
• One or two sentences on what happened. Be specific and honest. “I was in the hospital from April 3 to April 19” lands better than “I went through a difficult time.”
• Proof the problem is fixed: the account is current, autopay is set up, and you’ve paid on time since.
• Your history with them: how long you’ve been a customer and your record before the late.
• The specific request: that they stop reporting the late payment for that month to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, as a courtesy.
• A reason it matters, if you have one: a mortgage or apartment application coming up.
• Thanks. You’re asking for a favor.

Leave out legal threats, claims that the late is inaccurate when it isn’t, and anything copied from a forum template. A letter that sounds like a dispute can get handled like one and answered with “verified as accurate.”

A sample goodwill letter

This is an example. Replace every bracketed line with your own facts, and cut anything that doesn’t apply to you.

[Your full name]
[Your mailing address]
[Date]

[Lender name]
[Customer service or correspondence address from your statement]

Re: Account ending in [last four digits]

To whom it may concern,

I have had this account since [year] and paid on time every month
until [month and year], when my payment was reported 30 days late.

That month I [one or two plain sentences on what happened, for
example: was hospitalized for two weeks and did not see my statement
until after the due date]. I paid the past-due balance on [date], and
I have paid on time every month since. I have also set up automatic
payments so this does not happen again.

I understand the late payment was reported accurately. I am asking,
as a goodwill courtesy, whether you would consider no longer
reporting the [month and year] late payment to Equifax, Experian and
TransUnion. [Optional: I am preparing to apply for a mortgage, and
this is the only late payment on my credit reports.]

Thank you for considering this request.

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Phone number]

The letter builder can help you fill in a version of this with your own details. It’s free.

Where to send it and how to follow up

Send the letter to the lender that reported the late, never to the bureaus. The bureaus can only change what’s inaccurate; they don’t make courtesy exceptions for a lender.

1. Use the lender’s written channel. A secure message in your online account or the correspondence address on your statement both create a record.
2. Keep a copy of the letter and any proof you attached.
3. Give it time. Wait for a written response before following up.
4. If you get a no, ask once more, differently. A short call to customer service asking whether goodwill adjustments are possible, or a letter to the executive office address some lenders list, occasionally gets a different answer. Stop there if the answer stays no.
5. If you get a yes, check all three reports after the lender’s next reporting cycle. Get the approval in writing so you can follow up if one bureau still shows the late.

What not to do instead

When a goodwill request fails, it’s tempting to try a dispute. If the late really happened, that’s the wrong move. Disputing accurate information to get it removed isn’t what the dispute process is for, and our guide on what not to dispute explains how it can backfire, especially before a mortgage.

Be skeptical of anyone who charges you to make goodwill requests or promises removal of accurate lates. You can write this letter yourself, and a credit repair company has no special power to make a lender say yes. Credit repair companies versus doing it yourself covers what those services can and can’t legally do.

If the answer is no, the late isn’t permanent. It can stay on your report for up to seven years, and FICO says older problems count less over time. Recovering from a late payment covers what you can do in the meantime.