I hit a bad credit patch in 2001. Should I pay off charge offs or suck it up? Have card, car and apartment now
343397
How much debt are we talking about?  How difficult is it going to be for you to pay it off?  Are you looking into buying something soon?  Lots of questions, not enough answers.\n\nAs mentioned, this debt will drop off your credit records after 7 years, starting on the day of default.  If you can wait that long, don't pay it and watch it go away.  \n\nLegally, after a certain time the Statute of Limitations runs out.  Each state has a differant time length (many are 5-7 years for credit card debt).   Check the link below for that information.  If the creditors are threatening to sue you, they lose that right after this time.  So, at this time you may not even have a legal obligation to pay. \n\nIf this advice doesn't help, and you still want to pay, a word of advice.  Before you send these guys a dime, get it IN WRITING that they will remove the entry from your credit history, or change the listing to "paid in full, never late".  Otherwise, the report will stay on your record, and your credit will still be ruined.  \n\nRemember, you are tying to fix your credit score.  What is the sense of paying them, and still having a bad score?  They can and will remove the listing.  Do not believe them if they say they can't do it.  It it legal, and that's the ONLY leverage you have on them.  But get it in writing first.
912182
It's nice you want to start off "clean" but of course the only way to do that is to square things up with the creditors. $2000. feels like alot but truly it's not and you MAY be able to get most of it reduced to 50-60% by making them an offer. \nThe delinquient payments for over 1 year have already killed your credit rating so you have nothing to lose in a negotiation with them.\n\nYou might even find out that the balances were so low that the creditors reported you as a charge-off. Which means they totally do not expect to see payments on the debts.\n\nYou'll never know unless you pull a new credit report.\n\nBest of luck to you.
846006
I work at a loan office. You're credit rating alone has you covered. Beside, no balance is way better than an unpaid balance. As long as you have more cash flowing in than going out it's not that big of a deal. But if it couldn't hurt to re-open that one. You never know when you may need it. Good luck!
68575
Until you take care of it...or I did hear that after 7 years it gets taken off but I wouldn't trust that.  The best way to find out would be to call a credit counseling business and ask them.
717633
$0, I use to have over $30,000.oo in credit card debt, I paid them off over the course of 5 years and haven't charged since.
925216
That’s great that you atempted to repair your credit yourself before you decided to pay someone. \n\nNow that you know how aggravating the credit bureaus are to deal with, you need to find a legitimate company. Let me tell you; they are far and few between. I tried to repair my credit myself and gave up. Then I hired a company in California called a “Fresh Start” they charged me $695 and stole my money. I never heard back from them. It turns out it was a complete scam. \n\nStill very serious and skeptical about repairing my credit, the 2nd time around, I researched quite a few different companies. I finally decided on a company in Florida called Credit Network. They are a smaller company and they really know what they are doing. They also didn’t charge anything upfront except for a small setup fee, after that they charge $49 mo, after the work is performed for the previous month. When I started I had 73 negative items between all 3 bureaus! That was about 8 months ago, and they have deleted all but 17 bad items. They were realistic when they said it could take over a year, buts that’s fine with me, because they followed through on what they said.     \n\nSomething very important….. The bad debts that you say you owe; you need to pay them off. I don’t care if you settle them or pay them in full, eventually you need to pay them off because if you don’t, there is a very good possibility they will pop back up on your credit after you delete them. I was told that debts get sold and resold, even after the statute of limitations. So if you are as serious as you sound about repairing your credit, you have to pay them off!! \n\nOh yeah, here is the link to them http://www.expert-credit-advice.com/credit_repair_service.htm
491896
First of all, they will find your car sooner or later.\n\nSecondly, and more importantly, it will affect your credit negatively for at least 7, possibly 10 years. This means you won't be able to buy a house, another car, get a credit card or student loans. \n\nFrom there, if you clean up your act enough to get credit again someday, you will pay interest rates that are double or possibly triple what some consumers pay.\n\nIs it really worth it?
1000911
I work for the bankruptcy court. You 'screwed' up in terms of filing. You should've filed 6 months ago before the law changed. If you try to file now, you will not necessarily be dismissed of your debts. Why not get rid of one or both cars? do you need 2 cars. Sell one. And use that $$ to pare down your debt. Also, consolidate your credit into onw low interest loan/credit. Remember if you file now, it is going to cost you a lot of $$$$ with no guarantees. Bankruptcy will really screw your credit report. Good luck. This may not be ideal--but I re-financed my a$$ off to pay off me debt. I sold a Benz that I didn't need. We're all weak...
35392
In general - you shouldn't be maxing out your cards at all - it is a very bad habit to get into. Living on borrowed money isn't a wise idea. Credit cards are a tool. They should be used instead of cash so that you don't have to carry cash around with you. But it doesn't mean that you don't have the money when it comes time for that bill to be paid. \n\nIf you only charge what you KNOW you can afford to pay off - you will be safe and build a very good credit rating. Keeping a small balance is not a bad thing but - try and pay the majority of it off this way you don't have to pay interest on it.\n\nI have been through it. It took us 10 long years to get out of debt. We had over $57,000 in debt and very good credit though. We never missed payments but just seemed to be swamped with it. Be patient for the credit transfer deals that let you have the rate until your balance is paid in full. These are the ones you will want for the long haul. \n\nWe transfered to a few cards. one of them was the BEST - 0% until it was paid off! That was amazing but true. There was no limited time. then we also transfered onto a few cards with 3.99% interested until paid - Again no limited time. \n\nThis allowed us to pay MUCH MORE THAN THE MINIMUM.  paying the min will not help - it will usually get you worse off because you debt will grow usually from other purchases going onto it.  Just stop using the cards and pay them all off.  \n\nStay away from the Transfer offers that only give you a matter of months to pay. \n\nI just can't stress that enough.   cause you will end up having a huge percentage rate a year from now and then your debt will be compounding more than it ever has.  \n\nI am standing here today - debt free!!! Yes we paid off the entire $57,000 and it is all due to the stratigy above - never miss a payment and pay as much as you can towards the highest interest rates first. Minimum payments for the lowest rates. After a while you will see your debt come down, and your credit history improve.  We did it all on our own.
767265
sounds like you should pay off your old credit card first!!
353378
Don't do it if you can avoid it in any way. Your credit will be shot for a very long time. (not to mention it isn't a very upstanding way to settle your debts)
604090
Its really hard to tell how much you can get anyway with paying. I use to do this kind of work. So it depends on how long you have owed them, was you credit good (always made payments on time) until this happened or it was a little rocky sometimes,then what kind of finance company was it ( automobile, private loan from a bank or credit card co, home buying) & has it gone into collections yet?? All these things sometimes makes a difference. But you can always make them an offer. Cause they have told you what the debit was, what they would settle for. So now I would make them an offer. Maybe start with whatever $ amount you can pay right now..then if that fails then offer a little more but it will take you a little bit longer to pay that $ amount. And just go from there. If all else fells, make 1 lump sum, & payments on the rest. BEST OF WISHES, I KNOW ITS HARD!!
201112
If you meet the requirements to file you better file! All you need to do is get your tax documents together and file a 2001 tax return. You can do them yourself or pay a preparer to do them. Don't freak out. If you don't owe them money than you will not have fines and all that stuff, but I would do them cause once they open an audit they can go back for ever. I hope it works out for you
30187
Pay off those charges, especially if your interest rate is over 10%.  It's always good to have some money in savings, but if you want your money to go further, get rid of those charges, it's like paying a middleman for an item purchased for YEARS!!!
123318
Don't do this.  It's a scam.\n\nThere is no way to "fix" your bad credit.  You can only improve it over time by paying your bills & being responsible.\n\nYou can, however, fix errors if there are any on your credit report.  You're entitled to one free credit report a year at annualcreditreport.com
498013
While it will negatively affect your credit it is better than having a charge off or a bankruptcy.  One thing you can do is to pay extra, so that you get out of the program faster.  Once you have completed the payment plan, you should use a credit card with a good history once a month and pay the balance off.  This will show a good use of credit.
981194
First, don't spend what you don't have. What monthly expenses do you have? If you make $6/hour and work 20 hours a week, it will only take you 5 months to pay the $2000.\n\nIn the meantime, read (http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com). Credit consolidation isn't always a good thing. If you have well established credit (which it doesn't look like you do), you could get another credit card that has 0% APR on balance transfers (and hopefully a 0% fee on that transfer as well). Transfer the balance to the new card, pay it off within the 0% APR timeframe and problem solved.\n\nBut to me, it sounds like there might be another, deeper problem that needs to be worked on as well.