Getting goodwill removal of late payments could potentially help your score, but it's really hit or miss which lenders are willing to do it. Fellow Soldier here as well. Is your current credit file optimized to squeeze every point out you can? There may be options to squeak out the points you need from your existing file rather than having to rely on the possibility of goodwill removals. That said, the goodwill advice is pretty consistent...write personal letters/emails (not templates) to the CEO or high up corporate officer of the lender. Lay out the reasons you were late, the steps you took to fix it, and humbly ask for late payment removal from your credit reports as a means to help you moving forward. All they can do is say no. Some lenders are more apt to be merciful than others.
@Anonymous wrote:Thank you for your reply. I appreciate the info. What do you mean by optimizing my credit file? I have a credit mix of very good, amount of debt very good. Is that what you're refering to?
Yes. For instance, have you implemented AZEO with your credit cards? It's one of the easiest ways to manipulate utilization metrics in your favor, and can offer immediate points. There may be other ways too depending on the specifics of your credit file.
@Anonymous wrote:I haven't done that yet. I'm carrying a 5% balance on both the cards that I have. That's an easy enough adjustment to make. Thank you.
You bet. You don't get the full score benefit from AZEO with only 2 open revolving accounts, as the best you can do is to have 50% of your accounts have a balance, but it should still net you some points. Make sure you leave the small balance on a major bank card (Cap One, Discover, Chase, etc) if you have one. No one knows exactly why, but it seems a major bank card as your 1 card with a balance works better than a CU or store card. I don't know how close you are to your desired mortgage score, but FICO scores 2,4,5 that mortgage lenders use are particularly sensitive to accounts with balances. Getting 1 to 0% utilization, and the other to 1% might net you the points you need. Good luck!