Is it OK to pay a settlement amount on credit card debt?

If you don't have anything in writing showing that they will either delete the negatives or report as closed, paid as agreed - you may end up with it showing as a paid charge off.

You should have also sent them a debt validation letter before agreeing to pay the accounts. That way you would be sure that they have not inflated the amounts. (which they may have done).

I would suggest that before you send your next payment, to at least send them a pay for delete letter.

Request that after they are paid they will:

Delete anything they have placed on your reports.

They will not sell the debt or the remainder of the debt.

They will cease all collections on the debt.

If you do not have anything in writing, you may find that they will report negatively, sell the remainder of the debt etc. So, protect yourself.

If you need any more info about this type of letter or debt validation letters, do some reading in the forums on the site that I have linked.

Echo is correct here....everyone else just doesn't have a clue!

Lets get one thing straight. If you pay off a debt that was in collections, all they are required to do (by law) is note on your records that you are now "paid". It can be a settlement, or whatever they choose to list it as. Either way, it will still reflect that it was in collections and had late payments.

IT'S STILL A NEGATIVE REPORT!

You hear that Jenny? A future lender will look at this and say "how nice, you paid them something....but no way I'm going to give you a loan!"

The ONLY advantage to doing this is to stop collection actions and/or judgements from being filed.

But if you are paying these old bills just to try and fix your credit report, you failed! You just spent money for nothing.

When you negotiate your settlement, you need to get IN WRITING that the creditor will remove the negative listings, or delete it entirely. Many will tell you it's against the law. It not! They will tell you it violates the CRA's agreement. Nope, I've read that too.

If they refuse to help you fix your credit, it's because they want to punish you for putting them through the trouble of collections.

When you make a settlement agreement with a creditor, a few things need to happen. First thing is obviously the settled amount. Second is to waive or credit back fees. Good credit card companies will waive fees and interest in lieu of satisfied debt. This a time when you find out who you want to do business with in the future. Third is to have them agree, in writing, that all negative reported information be deleted or changed to "paid satisfactory" on your credit reports. All of these things must be negotiated and agreed upon before settlement is paid to the creditor.

In the instance where certain card companies refuse to negotiate, you need to get them taken care of ASAP. Providian was one of those companies (maybe they're not around anymore). You can always threaten with bankruptcy to get action or keep going up the food chain till you achieve the desired result.

In most cases, you should be able to get the desired result, which is to get the negative information deleted once the account is paid off. With all negative information deleted, theoretically you could reapply at the very same creditor and they will not know you had negative history with them.

As for the nasty ones, after paying them off, just wait two years before disputing the information with the credit bureaus. The creditor will have deleted your information and the bureaus will be unable to verify.

That would be underhanded (even for a credit card company) to pay an amount they asked for and then screw you after you paid it. However, get it in writing wherever possible and check your credit report to make sure they're living up to their end of the bargain.

And yes, I've been there. I settled a debt that I probably shouldn't have but I had it so I guess it was the "right" thing to do.

You need to find out if the credit card will report the 'settlement' to the credit bureaus. If they do, that might reflect negatively on your credit score.

If not, go for it. It's like free money!

No .. your doing a good thing. Get those things paid off and out from under you. In the future they will be able to see what happened and that you paid those debts off. Go slow from here on out and work your way up!!

make sure you get it in writing..have a letter and/or receipt..make sure you follow up with a copy of your credit report to make sure the company notified the credit bureau

mayb yes

Why wouldn't be so.

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