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Hello all! This is my first time posting so I apologize if I am in the wrong place. I missed a payment because of a stupid mistake and would like to get a late payment remark removed from my account. I paid off the late payment immediately and was finally getting my credit score up past 700 because of eliminating some utilization. Of course timing is awful and this late payment happened right when I was doing well because of computer error and me failing to double check that I had all my payments in. Now my score is below 640. I want to ask your expert opinions on a goodwill letter I have constructed. From everything that I have heard, Citi is one of the worst places to deal with getting a late payment removed. Calling them provided me with no help in this matter but I did get a late fee waived without having to say anything. Here is my letter: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Citibank 701 E 60th Street N Sioux Falls, SD 57104-0432 Regarding: Acct # xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing to you today regarding my credit card account # xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx which I have had for only a short time. I originally opened my account with Zales to purchase my fiancée’s engagement ring. I am planning on purchasing our wedding bands through this account with Zales as well. The purpose of my correspondence is to see if you would be willing to give me a second chance and make a "goodwill" adjustment on the reporting of this account to the three credit agencies. I am very happy with the service that you offer and I plan to do business in the future with your company. I have high expectations of myself and I did not start off on the right foot. I missed the first payment of my account mistakenly thinking I had submitted it only to find out later that I had not. At this point I became past due of more than 30 days and a late payment mark was sent to the crediting agencies. My credit limit was also lowered after this occurrence. I know that payment was my responsibility and I am not attempting to justify this breach of my user agreement, rather I am only trying to show that this does not reflect my actual credit worthiness. I have never been late on any other accounts in any circumstance which is reflected on my credit report. I am sincerely hoping you might review the conditions under which this non-payment occurred and consider removing the negative trade line associated with this account from my three credit reports. As soon as I became aware of the balance I contacted customer service and paid the $156.00 balance in full immediately. I sincerely apologize for this action. As insurance, I have setup automatic payments to be taken from my account in the future. I am in hope to repair my credit in order to purchase a home this year and start my family. This mark is the only thing preventing me from that. I hope that Citibank is willing to work with me on erasing this mark from my credit reports. I sincerely hope that I can repair my status with your company and I look forward to continue working with you! Best Regards, Ferin ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have never done this before and I tend to apologize too much so I don't want to sound too needy. Is it too early to ask for this removal as I haven't been with them for more than a few months? I also do not have any other citi accounts as my other cards are Chase and my bank is M&T. Please let me know if anyone here has any input! Tough criticism is greatly appreciated.