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Email template to ask a company to waive a late fee

A payment went in a few days late, and a late fee showed up on your statement. Late fees on credit cards, loans, rent, and utility bills are almost always waived on request when the customer has a clean payment record and asks once, politely, right away. The fee is a penalty, not a cost the company incurred, so a rep usually has discretion to remove it. Asking in writing means you have the waiver on record if the fee is not actually removed, and it forces a yes-or-no answer instead of a vague "we'll see what we can do" on the phone.

Before you send

  • Your account number and the statement or invoice that shows the fee, with the fee amount and the date it was charged.
  • The date the payment was due and the date it was actually received, so you can be exact about how late it was.
  • Confirmation that the payment has now been made in full. Companies rarely waive a fee while the balance is still outstanding.
  • A one-sentence, true reason for the delay. You do not owe a long story, and you should not invent one.
  • Whether you have been charged a late fee on this account before. If this is your first, say so; it is the strongest point you have.
Subject Request to waive late fee, account #[account number] 
Hi [company name] billing team,

My payment of $[payment amount] on account [account number] was due on [due date] and was received on [date received], [number] days late. A late fee of $[fee amount] was added on [date fee was charged].

The account is now paid in full, and this is the first late payment in the [number of years or months] I've had the account. The delay was because [one short, honest reason, such as a bank transfer that took longer than expected].

Given that record, I'd like to ask that you waive the $[fee amount] late fee as a one-time courtesy. Could you also confirm that the late payment won't be reported to the credit bureaus, since it was under 30 days?

I'd appreciate a reply by [date, about a week out] confirming whether the fee has been removed.

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Your phone number]

Everything in brackets is yours to fill in. Keep the rest as it is or change the tone to match how you write.

After you send

  • Most companies grant a first-time waiver within a few business days and confirm by email or a credit on the next statement. Check the next statement to make sure the fee is actually gone, including any interest that was charged on it.
  • A bad answer is a form reply that restates the policy without saying yes or no. Reply once and ask directly: "Has the fee been waived, yes or no?"
  • If the answer is no, ask whether a supervisor can review it, and mention that you would like to keep the account in good standing. For credit cards, note that a late payment under 30 days is normally not reported to the credit bureaus, so the fee is the only issue.
  • If it is refused twice, let it go. One fee is not worth hours of your time, but set up autopay so it does not happen again.

Or don't send it yourself

Forward the job to myagent@standinfor.me and let StandIn run the whole thread.

StandIn is an email assistant that handles conversations with businesses for you. You write it one email saying what you need. It writes to the business, waits for the answer, follows up when they go quiet, pushes back on the number when it should, and brings the results back to your inbox for you to decide. You don't need to install an app or sign up. The first email you send is already the start of the task.

Hand this to StandIn opens an email to myagent@standinfor.me with the job already written out

To myagent@standinfor.me Subject Get a late fee waived on my account 
Hi StandIn,

Please ask [company name] to waive a late fee on my account and confirm it in writing.

The account: [company name, account number, name on the account].
The fee: [amount, date it was charged].
The payment: [amount, due date, date it was received, and whether the balance is now paid in full].
Why it was late: [one short, honest reason].
My history: [first late payment or not, how long I've had the account].

If they refuse, ask for a supervisor to review it and confirm the late payment will not be reported to the credit bureaus. Let me know when the fee is actually removed from my statement.

Thanks,
[Your name]

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