I know they buy old debt at pennies on the dollar, and I have old cc debt, that WAS only about 6k, but with interest, and then being charged off and continuing to roll for years, is over 20k on paper, according to them. But I didn’t spend 20k, and I know the agencies will settle for much less than that.

I’m looking at ch. 7, but before I commit to it, I want to know what realistically I could pay the various collection agencies to settle it. I feel that a BK attorney will only encourage me to file, and if I call the agencies, they can legally start hounding me and my parents to get ahold of me (I’ve managed to keep my number etc private for years). Where can I turn? And what % do they usually settle for? Thanks so much.
Awesome thank you both, I’m in CA, that site shows SOL is 4years, and I believe it was all charged off in 2006, so it might be past already, I’ll get my credit report and check.

-So, if paying them off won’t improve my credit score, what’s the fastest way that I can bring my score back up? (I assume getting those debts taken off is how your score goes back up), obviously the goal is to get them off and/or qualify for a prepaid cc or some way to bring my score back up, so I can strive for the perfect score I USED to have etc. If you get a chance, email me at christianatheist80@yahoo.com

Thanks again, invaluable information.

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my wife has a few credit cards in which she has about 6k in debt. then she took out her 401k in order to pay some off(which brought it down to 6k) and so we both got nothing back from our taxes and now we owe the irs 4k. then we got a car payment we are paying for which is another 6k. now we are trying to pay it off but its a lot and i need some ideas on how to pay this debt without bankruptcy or using a debt settlement company? i have debt too but its like 2k so i’m worried about hers first. i’m at my whits end and need some help please!
the car loan we have in not exactly a lein. i was sold a car on a bogus payment plan and we took out a loan to pay off mine while she used her car as colateral. so we are still paying this loan.

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No assets, no other debts. I figure i can settle one card (7K owed) for <4k, come tax time I should get the 20% back and settle the other one. (6K owed). Looking to start college in Jan, delivering pizzas for job, keeping my income low enough to maximize fin aid. Will this action get me to zero and a fresh start?

Technorati Tags: 6k, 7k, assets, debts, fin aid, fresh start, job, lt, pizzas, tax time