Hi all, I've searched through the site, and found some wonderful templates on goodwill letters. But I still have a question. When writing a goodwill letter, do you have to call them before sending the letter, or can you simply send the letter. Also, what if I had just disputed the information with the CRAs? I don't plan on sending the letters until after the investigation has been completed, but how long should I wait before trying the good will letter approach? Thanks in advance!
One more thing.. The goodwill letters I've seen on here indicated that they had good credit except for the one company their writing to. I know this sound dumb, but what if I'm still in the process of cleaning up my credit, and of course this *isnt* the only blemish on there?
Just send the letter, no phone call prior is needed. Edit the letter to suit your situation, do not include that part in the letter. You never know, they may pull an inquiry, and see that its not true.
I love Love, but I'm gonna disagree, LOL. When I sent goodwill letters I claimed that their's was the only blemish even though that wasn't true. While I usually don't advocate flat-out lying, I certainly do in this case. The fact ("fact") that you contend that theirs is the only thing holding you up provides even more incentive for a kind-hearted person reading your letter to just say, "What the hell -- send the UDF form." First, the chance that the company will pull your credit is EXCEPTIONALLY slim. First of all, there is nothing at stake here for them -- no outstanding payment, no need for skip-tracing a deadbeat, no legal threat, etc. Second, it COSTS them money every time they pull your credit (even if they are a subscriber, and even if they are only pulling a soft inquiry). With no money on the table and a customer in good-standing making what's framed as a minor request, there's no impetus for the reader to escalate this to the credit or underwriting departments where your credit would be requisitioned. Third, if the account is closed, then they can't pull your credit anyway without incurring a $1000 statutory penalty in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Finally, for what it's worth, after a year of tracking goodwill adjustment scenarios here and on a couple of other credit-related discussion boards, I have never, ever heard of a single instance of a creditor pulling a credit file in response to a goodwill letter. That said, if this was a nutcase letter, that would be another story. The nutcase letter is written vaguely enough, and is legally menacing enough, and the stakes are high enough (they don't know what you're up to with the spooky letter), that the reader may well escalate and pull your credit. Last year I had a creditor pull my credit in response to the nutcase letter (a student loan provider). This was a clear FCRA violation, and I may still sue them (Christine @ Bayhouse style) for their infraction, even though they deleted the tradeline. Doc
My credit is still horrible. I have unpaid charge-offs etc. I fit the letter to my certain situation. I talked about it in HOORAY! Goodwill Letter worked. It was for a student loan. I called them and talked to them, and they let me know that it was disputed 2x already and they had removed 2 late payments. I decided to try the goodwill and faxed it to their number as well. I didn't mail it. I tried to make it as urgent as possible. Hey, look at it this way, what does it hurt to try?
