I first learned of Comfort Letters when working in banking. It is a non-legally binding letter usually on behalf of a bank customer to a third party considering contracting with our customer.
The letter might say “Although we don’t legally guarantee nor underwrite George Smith, he has been an outstanding customer of ours for 20 years, is a great community asset and leader, and a well established business owner who always promptly pays his bills. Because of the great reputation he has in this community we highly endorse you doing business with him.”
The next step up from a comfort letter is a Hold Harmless Agreement. It might be from George Smith to someone who is to be paid to paint graffiti on the top of George’s building proclaiming George’s competition to be a rat. That agreement promises to cover all of the artists fines, legal fees or other unforeseen expenses (getting his butt kicked) incurred from performing his duties.
On this morning’s news I saw where a shooter killed eight persons in a Fedex building. It was instantly stated that “According to the White House the President has been briefed on this.” That statement stood out to me because it could never give anyone any comfort at all. Let’s get real with ourselves Folks.