topic Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes! in Understanding FICO® Scoring

GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

FICOnater2007 — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 04:17:10 GMT

Hello all,

Over the past month or so I've sent some GW letters and made some GW calls to various folks who had some baddies listed on my CR. Here is a rundown of the level of friendliness I encountered and the successes, I hope they help you:

AMERICAN HONDA FINANCE - Very friendly and easy to work with. I called these folks on the phone and the first guy I spoke to said I could only get one of the three lates removed (each was a 30-day back in 2004). I explained that my wife and I were lifelong Honda owners and in fact counting our two current Hondas we've owned a total of 6. He said he would make a request to mgmt and call us back. They didn't call back, so the next day I called them again. I got another rep (also very nice) and she forwarded me to a manager who said they'd review it and would really call us back this time. The next day they did --- and said all three lates were being removed.

:smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: Friendliness

:smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: Service and Responsiveness

:smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: Easy to Contact

CHEVRON GAS - Called these nice folks on 7/25/07 and spoke to Elvia. Very understanding and friendly to be sure. They said they'd be happy to help and would notify the three CRA's immediately.

:smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy:Friendliness

:smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy:Service and Responsiveness

:smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy:Easy to Contact

CITI / CITGO GAS - I sent these guys a letter on 7/5/07. We just got a reply back in the mail on 8/3/07 saying that it had been acccepted and processed.

:smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy:Friendliness

:smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy:Service and Responsiveness

:smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy:Easy to Contact

CITI / SHELL GAS - I sent these guys a letter on 7/5/07 and made a follow-up call on 7/25/07. They were quite prompt and said the GW letter had already been acccepted and processed.

:smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy:Friendliness

:smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy:Service and Responsiveness

:smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy:Easy to Contact

GEMB/DILLARD'S - I called these folks. It was difficult to get in touch with the right person and I ended up speaking to five different people over a two-day period. All but one was friendly and helpful. They purged the negative notation from my account.

:smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: Friendliness

:smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: Service and Responsiveness

:smileyvery-happy: Easy to Contact

GEMB/JC Penny's - I made a phone call to these guys which was good...because it saved me from wasting my money on a postage stamp! They were real class 'A' JERKS, especially when I politely asked for a manager and got "Brent". Brent was too busy painting his toenails and acting like a snooty French maitre' d than being even remotely interested in saying anything other than "we cannot manipulate credit data - it's illegal". In fact, I think he uttered that phrase at least three times...

:smileymad: :smileymad: :smileymad: Friendliness

:smileymad: :smileymad: :smileymad: Service and Responsiveness

:smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: :smileyvery-happy: Easy to Contact

CONCLUSION - Essentially the process of sending a GW letter and/or making a GW call (or follow-up call) is well worth it. Only one out of six were vehemently opposed to being helpful, and I was surprised that several of them were QUITE easy to reach on the phone. A few things that seemed to help were:

Asking to have only 3 or less lates to be removed. If you actually have more than this on your account you're not in a good position to ask for leniency.
It helps if the lates were more than a year ago, or related to an account that was closed more than a year ago.
Being friendly (I was raised to say "yes sir, no sir" , etc...) it really made a difference!
Patience was a must, as was having some ample time to sit on hold for a couple of the companies.
Using leverage such as "I've owned XX of your cars" or "yes I owed $$ but as you see I paid it off when I discovered the debt" or even "I'd really appreciate you helping us to get a fresh start and since there were only XX lates, and they were never more than 30-days..."
Of course, being truthful, honest and sincere carries weight. You'll find some of the people on the phone can SYMPATHIZE because they are in similar situations.
MOST IMPORTANTLY ask for a manager but do it nicely! Some of the reps don't seem to have the authority to help, but are glad to have the buck passed to their bosses.

I hope this info helps some others! Good luck!

FICOnater2007

P.S. If anyone needs phone numbers to contact these folks shoot me a message...

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

Tuscani — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 05:00:35 GMT

Congrats!

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

myhearts07 — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 12:36:57 GMT

Great job.. I am waiting hear back from Citi/Shell ....

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

cfstr1 — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 18:53:24 GMT

Congrats!!! Would you mind posting the letters you sent them.

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

FICOnater2007 — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 21:04:59 GMT

Here you go:

CITI / CITGO

Dear Sir/Ma’am:

I had been a CITGO customer since the early 1990’s and during that time, I enjoyed the experience. Currently, I am writing to see if you would be willing to make a "goodwill" adjustment to your reporting to the three credit agencies.

According to my credit report, I have two (2) 30-day late payments on the above referenced account which are dated 7/2004 and 4/2006.

These late payments were due to oversight and I do apologize. I don’t say this to justify why the payments were late, but rather to show that this is not a good indicator of my credit worthiness.

Outside of these incidents I had a pretty decent payment history during the 15+ years I was an account holder with CITGO.

It is my sincere hope that CITGO is willing to work with me on erasing this mark from my credit reports.

Although I no longer maintain a CITGO card, I do continue to frequent your stores. In closing, I thank you in advance for your consideration and look forward to hearing from you on this matter.

Very Sincerely,

**************************************************************************

CITI / SHELL

To Whom It May Concern:

We have been Shell customers since 2001 and during that time, we have enjoyed our experience.

Currently, we are writing to see if you would be willing to make a "goodwill" adjustment to your reporting to the three credit agencies.

According to our credit reports, we have two (2) 30-day late payments on the above referenced account which are dated 6/2004 and 10/2004.

Before and since then, we have had an excellent payment history with Shell and would like to request the removal of these negative payments from our respective credit reports.

At the time of the late payments, business was slow for us and we are self-employed. We say this not to justify why the payments were late, but rather to show that the late payments are not a good indicator of our intentions nor of our credit worthiness. We hope that Shell is willing to work with us on erasing this mark from our credit reports.

We have been very happy customers in the past and hope to continue a long relationship with Shell. With today’s credit industry so competitive, we know how important it is to maintain good relationships with customers. Shell offers excellent service, clean stores, and great gasoline which is why we highly recommend it to our friends and family.

In closing, we hope that you will deeply consider our request and prove once again, why Shell is the gasoline company we have stuck with for over 6 years. Looking forward to your reply.

Very Sincerely,

**************************************************************************

The others I simply called on the phone. If you do send a letter, it is probably a good idea to follow-up with a phone call. It couldn't hurt!

Good luck,

FICOnater2007

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

honeybrook1 — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:29:42 GMT

Congrats on you successess!:smileyhappy: I just sent one like that to Citi/Shell. I used the addy on my credit report, and it came back. What address did you use?

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

Banshee — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 02:18:24 GMT

This is very helpful, thank you for posting about your experiences. And congrats!

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

FICOnater2007 — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 05:06:51 GMT

Hi honeybrook1,

I checked my notes and didn't see what address I orignally used, so it was probably the one from our monthly statement which is:

SHELL CARD CENTER

P.O. Box 689151

Des Moines, IA 50368-9151

However, I did have note a of FAX number which was 866-533-8581 and I think I FAX'ed a copy as well. This was all followed up with a GW call. Shell was pretty easy-going and they've got my business because they were very decent and understanding, whereas some like GEMB/JC Penny's are highly resistant to acting like humans.:smileyhappy:

Good luck!

FICOnater2007

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

caliking — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 23:03:20 GMT

Hello All,

I've been lurking around on this site for about 3/4 mths now. When I first found it, I wrote all my creditors with lates GW letters. Things weren't working out for me, in getting any deleted. I kept getting the same dumb form letters saying how they must report correctly to the credit bureaus yadayada... Then Bloomingdale's sent me a letter saying that they'd remove the 1 late and Macy's sent one saying that they'd remove 3 lates, as a 1 time courtesy to the life of the acct. I couldn't believe it! Like magic, I ran my cr in a day or so and both accts were listed in my "accts in good standing". Now only if Cap1 would get on board with the program.

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

Kyzmet — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 18:59:15 GMT

Great job on the purgings! I wondered if perhaps you still had the information on where to send a GW to gem/dillards please? I've not had much luck with a contact for them.

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

honeybrook1 — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 22:27:21 GMT

Thanks so much, FICOnater2007,

I used your info about Shell, and so far, I've seen updates on EQ and EX-waiting on TU (should here by 11/10, according to them). 2 30-day lates deleted from both-very happy!:smileyvery-happy: Going to try my luck with Dillards and give them a call. I've sent them GW letters twice and have been denied both times:smileysad:...wish me luck!!:smileyhappy:

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

happytobehere — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:04:38 GMT

How long in between letters did you wait? I sent out letters over two weeks ago and I have not heard a thing. I figure the first of the month I would send them out again.

Thanks

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

Madison — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:26:23 GMT

I made a GW call to Capital One to remove one 30 late payment Feb 2005. After talking with the first person who said they don't GW, I told her that Capital One does GW and clears records. She said she couldn't do it and transferred me to an Account Specialist. He looked at my account and said he didn't see any late payments in my records. He immediately wrote a dispute letter to all three credit reporting agencies to remove the record of late payment and told them I had no history of late payments. He is having them fax me copies of proof of removal when they clear them. Nice guy......Just goes to show to it pays to call credit card companies to see if they will GW. You might find out like I did that the credit card companies may have cleared your records or the Credit Reporting Companies have an error. Score one for the good guys.

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:41:27 GMT

Madison, well done! And just from reading these posts, apparently you've done a VERY rare thing in getting cooperation and/or GW out of Capitol One. Sweet!

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

honeybrook1 — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 05:47:33 GMT

I waited for a month-if I didn't hear anything, I send out another letter. I called Dillards the other day, explained my situation about my lates. The guy I was speaking with didn't understand what I was talking about-GW'ing lates, he had never heard of such a thing!:smileyvery-happy: In the end, he reimbursed me for a late charge that I had a year ago. Better than nothing...I'll try back again in a day or two.

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

Kyzmet — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 03:01:05 GMT

Jumping on today to report My first GW success! It was with GE/Dillard's. I'm so shocked I think I've read it like 10 times at least *reads again* Now if only Sears and Sallie Mae would cooperate! I'm going to keep trying, wish me luck!

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

Burgy — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 06:09:44 GMT

I'd be interested to know if Sallie Mae will play ball, they are the biggest stain on my report.

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

Shnapple — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 03:34:12 GMT

Kyzmet - I had luck with Sears but I didn't write a letter, I actually called and spoke with a CSR, explained what I was asking and got transferred. Incidentally I think I got transferred to Fraud which was not the correct department and the gentleman I spoke to said that he doesn't know why I got transferred to him. Fortunately he went ahead and deleted my late payment anyway. Maybe you could ask for Fraud and claim innocence when you get to that extension. :)

I gave it a few weeks, disputed my CRs, and they're all off.

Keep in mind that really, this only raised my score 2 points. But with all the other negative things on my report, and the fact that I'm trying to get my first mortgage, every little bit helps. :smileywink:

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

hmcbride222 — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:33:15 GMT

Hi cali,

Could you let me know the address you used for Macy's because i called for 2 lates and they won't help me out on the phone.. Just want to make sure it gets to the correct place.

Thanks

Re: GW Letters / GW Calls --- Successes!

azlisa60 — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:56:49 GMT

This is directed to FICOnater2007 or anyone else who has luck with Chevron. Who do I contact with a GW letter to remove a late pay for last July. The account is paid in full. They did not put in on my credit report till Feb after I paid the account in full.