Q. I applied for a home loan, and the lender wants a letter addressing a few "dings" on my credit report before sending it to the underwriter. I am not sure what is needed. Do you have a sample letter?

A. Interest.com has sample letters for correcting errors on a credit report. But the "dings" the lender is probably talking about are late payments. If you were late with your mortgage payment last June, the lender wants to know why.

Write a letter and put each "ding" in a bold subhead:

Late Mortgage Payment: June 16, 2008

Write a brief explanation for the delinquency and then go on to the next one.

Missed auto payment: June 2006

Write a brief explanation.

If there are actual billing errors on the report, go to Interest.com's Mortgage Worksheet on reporting credit errors. It will provide guidance on how to handle this situation.

Especially now, lenders are extremely cautious about lending money in light of all the recent defaults and foreclosures. They want to be reassured that there is minimal risk in lending you money to buy a home.