Goodwill Letters

Pluko

Hello all

Do goodwill letter actually work to get late/missed/defaults altered on your credit report?

I am asking because....

1: I've been with the same mobile phone provider for about 10 years and only missed one payment, so was thinking of asking if they can remove it in good faith for a loyal customer?

2: Late payments on my credit card, I recently received a letter from my credit card company explaining that they hadn't sent out late payment letters and have refunded me the charges with interest. Is there any chance they will removed the late payment marks on my credit report if I was to ask them to, explaining that the late payments would have been paid sooner if I have received the letters when they were meant to be sent out?

3: In 2013 my Virgin Media account was defaulted because I moved address and didn't realise that the last payment of £36 didn't go through. I only found this out a June 2016, I paid the outstanding balance and is now showing as paid on my credit report. If I wrote to them explaining what happed and that I hadn’t missed a payment in 2 years while I was a customer.

If they do work and companies do alter their accounts, do you think I’d have a good chance of getting the changes made to my credit report?


Thanks in advance

Alan

National_Debtline

Hi Alan

I have heard of credit files being altered purely on the basis of good will, but I don’t imagine it’s very common. It will be at the creditor’s discretion so it’s difficult to assess your chances but there’s no harm in trying.

James
@natdebtline

creditagenciesareajoke

They certainly do although most companies will try to do absolutely anything they can to avoid it. It takes a lot of hard work, lots of letters and a whole lot of persistence. Even when the data is wrong it can be hard to get it changed


I had a scenario like number 3 but with a current account with a high street bank, took over a year. The traditional advice is to not call them and to do it all by letter so you have an audit trail, this allows them to stall a lot in the hope you'll give up. I actually found it useful to speak to people, not the people you get when you phone up the call centre but the specialist teams you end up dealing with when the complaint gets escalated. Eventually took writing to the director of customer service to get the default removed.

Pluko

Sweet, i'll give it a go then.

Thanks

amy2015

Speaking from experience it does work with a few lenders.... However I have been trying for a while with Virgin!!

greyroofer

i was successful with Virgin :beer:

Dobbibill

Hi Pluko,

Welcome to the forum.

Credit reports should contain factual information eg paid on time or not paid on time etc.

That said, with your dilemma, and this is only my personal view I would think

for 1 - you can ask, there's nothing to lose

for 2 - quite probable given that they've admitted an error

for 3 - you'll be lucky, given the factual reporting as said above

What I would add is, give it a try. You have nothing to lose and potentially much to gain.

Please come back and let us know, whatever the outcome, it really does help other users in the future.

Farcasting

worth asking the question i had a default from pounds to pocket removed as they didnt send me a default notice, and i had defaulted on my orange contract by 1 month when i moved to EE i ignored the letters being naive thinking they'd forget about it. and i asked them if they could cancel it as a gesture of good will and i got an email back within a week saying it had been removed.

good luck

amy2015

Can I ask how you managed to get that removed? Exec team referred it to credit file team and they said no. It was for £83...


Thank you

sourcrates

I would normally advise writing a letter in these kind of situations, but i have had success myself in the past, by speaking to the relevant dept on the phone.

You need to get a bit of a rap-our going with the person your speaking to, chat about other things first, be friendly, dont approach them from a position of hostility, ask nicely for whatever your eventual aim is, if they really cant do what you are asking, try suggesting a lesser alternative, basically use the gift of the gab.

My surname is always a topic of conversation as its the same as a well known fictional celebrity, that always breaks the ice for me, try it and see, cant hurt can it.

DCFC79

How can you miss a payment, get direct debits setup and you wont ever miss a payment again.