Does a Goodwill Letter admit to anything?

[Yogurt]

Before I explain the question, let's start at the start of my thinking.

I got behind on my bills quite nicely after losing my job. Before I could catch up, most of my credit lines report a 120-150 day late. I'm pretty sure this is accurate but at least I was able to save them from going to collections. Two of them show 120 days late at two points in time (laid off twice). I figure a Goodwill Letter wouldn't hurt anything but I wanted to double check that before I go about it.

I believe the next stage after Goodwill would be Pay for Delete. A few of my credit lines are large enough to where I think if I were to save up and then pay in full the balance, the creditor might consider amending their records of my late pays. However, would they be less likely if they had a Goodwill Letter on file stating that I goofed up and got late? Do I have to even say I goofed up?

There is a third stage that I have yet to really hear a lot about on here so I thought I would mention it and see if anybody likes it. I believe it is often referred to as a payment history demand strategy.

Basically, you pay off the credit line whenever you can afford to pay it off. A month or so after you pay off the credit line, you send a letter to the creditor demanding to know the payment history of the account or have the late pays removed. The theory is that since the creditor already has their money from me, they are more likely to just remove the lates instead of fighting the credit history.

I'm under the impression a Goodwill Letter might mess with this strategy should the letter fail.

Anybody have any ideas on if a Goodwill letter is a good idea? Does it admit to anything so that PFD or payment history demand strategies could be declined?

Am I missing a step or stage of the game?

[Lian]

Creditors aren't apt to grant good-will deletions of their credit reporting when the debt remains unpaid, so PFD would precede GW request. They never have to provide a reason for declining a PFD, particularly since it contradicts their credit reporting agreements with the CRAs. I don't think sending a prior GW would have any impact one way or the other.

Since consumers have had access to credit reports and scores over the last decade or so, both creditors and debt collectors have used the fact of consumer knowledge of the adverse scoring impact of their reporting as a primary tool in collection of unpaid debt. They don't, at least to my knowledge, grant GW deletion of reporting when debt is still due.

I am a bit perplexed about the "payment history" strategy. They are not required to report each and every item that occurred on the account. Your "payment history" is what is in your CR.

They can just inform you to look at your CR.

Additionally, there is no requirement of the FCRA that the creditor must provide documentation of your file with them, let alone delete reporting of items they chose to report unless they are inaccurate. The burden is initially on the consumer to assert inaccuracies in reporting. That compels their investigation and verification as to the accuracy of their reporting. A fishing expedition for disclosure of information not required under the FCRA would appear to me to be inappropriate, and easily dismissed as lacking basis for dispute.

[blessed92380]

I am pretty new to all of this but I would like to add that I don't think sending a GW letter will change any chances for a PFD in the future. I doubt that the person considering your PFD letter will even know anything about the GW letter but that is just my guessing.

With that being said, I just sent my first GW letter of sorts to Chase on an UNPAID CO in the amount of $1,049.00 and they have removed all finance charges, late fees etc.. The lady I spoke with told me that though I was willing to pay there was no need for me to and that they have brought the account to a ZERO balance and will be deleting it from all three CBR's! The real kicker is that she said I would be receiving a letter stating the above along with a check for $51.00. I was completely shocked. I sent the email Monday evening and was advised all of this on Tuesday of this week. I check and the CO has already been removed from one of my CBR's.

I just wrote to Sears last night and have received a call from the corporate office today. The lady I spoke with said that she had to turn the email over to Citi (makes complete since) but that she is very confident that they will be able to help me. She will be calling me Tuesday to make sure I received a call from Citi. I guess they can suggest what Citi Bank does but since they are the actual bank that handles the account they have to pass things along.

I guess what I am saying is to try each step of the process because you never know what the outcome may be.