A Good Goodwill Letter Story

[strive4credit]

Who would like to hear a good goodwill letter story?

[chane]

Absolutely, lets hear it!

[strive4credit]

The situation:
Had some progressive lates 30/60/90 starting Nov 09 thru Jan 10 on a Citibank/Home Depot card. Blamed it on miscommunication as to when auto drafts were to take place. Straightened it out. But another unrelated late was still on.

Here is what I sent:

To Citibank:

I have had the honor and pleasure of having The Home Depot credit card with Citibank since 2007. Throughout our business relationship, I have honored my account agreement to the fullest. I appreciate how good your service has been. I have the utmost respect for Citibank as a financial institution and an American company.

During the recent economic downturn I found myself in a financial bind. During the time when my account was active I made diligent attempts to manage all of my bills. While overwhelmed with debt and trying to pay all of my bills on time the stress caused me to fall ill for a short period of time. l temporarily gave the responsibility of paying my bills to a trusted family member. Unfortunately, that person overlooked my June/July 2009 payment. As a result of this oversight one of my payments to you was delayed and subsequently reported to the credit bureaus as 30 days late.

Maintaining a good reputation with financial institutions is critical. In addition, maintaining that good reputation with Citibank is extremely important to me. I am so grateful for the years of positive credit history I have obtained through your company but now that one late notation is causing me great stress. I have since then enrolled in a repayment plan with automatic withdrawals so the possibility of this reoccurring is slim to none.

I am writing this letter to respectfully request your consideration in making an adjustment based on the circumstances that caused this single late payment. I am fully aware of the policies on accurate reporting. However it is up to the discretion of the company to make any adjustments and the credit bureaus advised me that they will report anything they are instructed. I would be eternally appreciative if you would send a request to the credit bureaus to remove this entry. I plead that you may help me and take into consideration how good of a customer I have been and will continue to be.

[strive4credit]

Critique the letter....scale from 1 to 10.

Who wants more?

[strive4credit]

This is what happened next:

So I sent the letter to two addresses, I faxed it to some number a rep gave me. And I emailed to the big wigs.

This what I got back from the email:

Quote:
Mr. Strive4Credit

I can certainly appreciate the circumstances that impacted your ability to make payment on your account. We are required by law to report your payment history accurately to the credit bureaus. Because your credit profile reflects the manner in which your account was maintained, the account information and payment history reflected on your credit bureau are correct and will not be changed. I regret that I was unable to honor your request.

Sincerely,

R P – Manager

Executive Correspondence and Quality

I interacted with this guy before. He removed some other lates for me. Those lates were truly their fault. I never emailed him but I guess whoever on that email list must have kicked it to him.

Now I will just wait for the snail mail responses. No response from the fax.
Should I respond to his email with a thanks anyway and/or a plleeeeaassee!!!

[strive4credit]

Then based on somebody's advice I emailed again:

"Thank you for your quick response. I really hope you reconsider. I would like to stress that the information currently being reported IS accurate, (I am not disputing anything with Citibank). I am simply asking you for a courtesy gesture of goodwill in having the credit bureaus remove this account from my report. I do recognize that this request is unique and that it may not be Citibank's normal policy. And while it's true that the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that any information reported is accurate, please consider that it does not demand that everything regarding the accounts be reported. Therefore, a company does have legal discretion and permission to remove any information it chooses from the credit report. I'm hoping that you will do that in my case for this account.

Your kind reconsideration in this matter is greatly appreciated."

Then after a few days Bad news......They said no dice.

The response came as a form letter. It wasn't personal at all.

As far as the email, no response yet.

Next step, send it cmrrr straight to the president. First, I gotta construct a hell of a letter. Then find the presidents address.

To all you goodwill letter writers......never give up!

[strive4credit]

So last time my situation was bleek.....no, no, no, from everyone.

Then I thought I will resend/email a tweeked up letter straight to the Pres. of Citibank and Home Depot. I doctored up the letter a little. Pay attention to the P.S.

To Citibank:

I have had the honor and pleasure of having The Home Depot credit card with Citibank since 2007. Throughout our business relationship, I have honored my account agreement to the fullest. I appreciate how good your service has been. I have the utmost respect for Citibank as a financial institution and an American company. Also, I continue to shop at The Home Depot for all of my home improvement needs. The quality of service provided by both entities makes their partnership an incredible alliance.

I am sending this correspondence to humbly ask for your assistance in a matter in which I have exhausted my resources. During the recent economic downturn I found myself in a financial bind. During the time when my account was active I made diligent attempts to manage all of my bills. While overwhelmed with debt and trying to pay all of my bills on time the stress caused me to fall ill for a short period of time. l temporarily gave the responsibility of paying my bills to a trusted family member. Unfortunately, that person overlooked my June/July 2009 payment. As a result of this oversight one of my payments to you was delayed and subsequently reported to the credit bureaus as 30 days late.

Maintaining a good reputation with financial institutions is critical. In addition, maintaining that good reputation with Citibank is extremely important to me. I am so grateful for the years of positive credit history I have obtained through your company but now that one late notation is causing me great stress. I have since then enrolled in a repayment plan with automatic withdrawals so the possibility of this reoccurring is slim to none.

I am writing this letter to respectfully request your consideration in making an adjustment based on the circumstances that caused this single late payment. I am fully aware of the policies on accurate reporting. However it is up to the discretion of the company to make any adjustments and the credit bureaus advised me that they will report anything they are instructed. I would be eternally appreciative if you would send a request to the credit bureaus to remove this entry. I plead that you may help me and take into consideration how good of a customer I have been and will continue to be.


Respectfully yours,


Strive4credit

P.S. I previously sent this letter in which the responses characterized the limited authorization of all the representatives I came in contact. Please contact me if there is a need to know which representatives I spoke with.