I sent out four goodwill letters today and one e-mail.
Chase:
E-mailed through "secure message center" on website to see if it got me anywhere. They replied within an hour and removed the $25 late fee from two years ago when I requested the removal of the 30 days late from my reports. Anyone have a physical address or e-mail address where I might be able to talk to someone higher up?
CBCS:
Collected for AT&T over a year ago. Sent GW letter via snail mail and assume it will be removed considering I paid them in full and it's been done with for over a year now.
HSBC:
I had a Best Buy charge through them. Paid the balance in full over two years ago but there were some late payments showing. I requested they remove it entirely.
Convergent:
Collected from Sprint account I stupidly opened before I turned 18. I settled with them. Anyone have any luck with collections getting removed that you settled rather than pay the full balance?
CFNA:
Opened a Firestone charge. Paid good for a year. Then had 30, 60, 90, 120, and then 90 days late showing. Checked report last night for the first time in a long time to find out it was still open (I thought I had closed it) and they gave me credit of $900 again. I called CFNA to confirm this and the nice woman on the phone said they reviewed the account in April and increased the CL from 0 to 900 (quite the increase) and that she's pretty confident that if I send a letter I can get the lates removed.
Has anyone had any luck with GW and these companies? I have been paying off balances and lately I've been getting pre-qualified offers in the mail. Yesterday I got one from CapitalOne and out of curiosity applied online and was approved for $1000 immediately. I'm 22 and got myself into debt a few years ago and then got hit real hard by the recession and was making half of what I was before when all of these late payments occurred. It seems like I'm on the right track. The last time I applied for a credit card was over two years ago and I was denied (by CapitalOne).
I'm just curious as to how successful people have been with these letters. Especially in getting late payments removed. I have one more balance I need to pay down with a Citi AAdvantage AMEX and once I'm done with that I'll send them a letter about the late payments in 09/10 when I had all of this trouble. I'm worried these things will follow me all the way to the mortgage process (though it's doubtful I'll be in a position to buy a home within the next few years).
I appreciate your input. I'm glad I found this forum. It's an incredible resource and very encouraging.
