Is it better to negotiate charge off amounts with creditors or pay in full?

should i negotiate a discount? or pay in full? whats better for my credit report/ does it matteR?

I've seen a lot of answers on here, but I'm gonna give you the real. What most people don't know which collection agencies count on is the fact that you don't know your credit rights. What I mean by that there's certain "rules of engagment" that collectors have to follow, but don't only if you don't hold them accountable.Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a negative debt can only be reported for 7 years from the last date of activity on the original debt. That's the statute of limitations (SOL) for reporting debt. But that's not all. There's also a statute of limitations for collecting debts as well. After a certain period of time a debt cannot be legally enforced in court of the state that it was opened in. With knowledge like this, you can use that as leverage to settle for a deletion payment that is far less than the original debt. Collection agencies may try to negotiate a payment in full for a debt that has an expired SOL for collecting hoping that you're not aware of that and they were able to get the full payment out of you when you really didn't have to. A tatic that you may want to use to try to settle is to inform the collectors that you know full well of your credit rights and that the SOL of collecting on the debt has well expired, however in an attempt to reconcile your credit history you're willing to pay no more than 35% of the debt if they're willing to remove the debt. Remember most agencies pay pennies on the dollar for these debts, so 35% is more than fair offer for a debt that can't be legally enforced. IF you're able to get them to agree to it, have them not only fax, but mail you something on their company letterhead stating the terms of the agreement and a copy of a universal deletion letter to all 3 credit bureaus. Also do NOT use your checking account to send them the payment, instead send a cashier's check certified mail to help with documenting this.

Depending on the collection agency, this may or may not work. Collectors have so much pride sometimes that would rather sell the debt to another collector for far less than what you were offering to pay, just so that they wouldn't have to give in. It's stupid, I know but it's true.

I posted links to a few websites that should help you out

ask to remove charge off credit report in exchange for deletion from credit and get it in writing.
If they take a lesser amount same deal as above.
It matters very much what they put or dont put on credit report.
It falls off in seven years. bankruptcy 10 years.

yes it matters, you should try to negotiate with them. What type of creditor are we talking about?

You need to understand something. If you pay a debt, or even settle for a smaller amount, all the creditor has to do is show "paid" on your credit report. But items like late payments, collections, charge off's, or settlements will still be there. It's still a bad report! You need them to delete the entry.

So start by negotiating a lower settlement, never offer to pay the full amount unless you have no other options.

But in either case, get the creditor to agree IN WRITING to delete the entry from your credit reports.

Point wise, it doesn't matter that much if it's paid in full or settled for a lesser amount.

You should always negotiate with your creditors, if you can save money wouldn't you? It won't hurt your credit report.

I did the "charge off" thing and it hurt me, it is better to just pay the full amount, what a charge off tells finance company's is that you use their credit but wont pay it all back, therefore you are a risk.

It really depends. If you already have a charge-off listed that is damaging your credit quite a bit.

If you can negociate with them to pay in full if they can remove the negative information would be best. You can try to settle for a lesser amount, but in this case they won't usually remove the negative information, it will also show on your report as settled not paid in full. This can be seen by some creditors as not as favorable. But if you do pay it either in full or by settling it will show as a 0 balance. Doing either of those is much better than just doing nothing and having it sit on your report.

Try it what have you got to lose.

If you owe that amount, I don't really think they're going to bargain with you. They could really careless, if they have to they will just take you to court to get their money. Sorry.

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