Debt Negotiation Advice

is it true that when you have debt that is long overdue you can negotiate with the creditors for a lower price

I have old Apartment debt that i am looking to pay off, how would i go about negotating pricing with them?

Public Comments

1. you have to either pay it or wait for them to offer you a settlement. but i doubt and apartment will do it. I've never heard of them doing it anyway.you could call them and tell them you can XXX amount of dollars a month until it is paid off and see what they say but no guarantees that they'll compromise with you.
2. Absolutely. they will take off over 50% or more. you can even fix your credit by going to: www.newcreditrating.com
3. If the OC (Original creditor...in this case, the apartment complex) is the one reporting your debt to credit bureaus....then likely NO. However, the more likely situation is they turned over the debt to a collector (e.g. AFNI, inc). If it's an old debt, it may have even been bought and sold a couple times to new collectors. The older the debt (and closer to that 7 year mark)....the less likely the chances are that you (the debtor) will pay it, so the debt loses it's value to collectors. You can absolutely approach the collector for a reduced amount, but even if you pay it off for that reduced amount, it will still show on your reports until that 7 year timeframe is up (except it will be noted as PAID with $0 balance). What you ultimately want is a "pay for delete" agreement, in which you settle the debt for a lower rate, and have the collector agree to DELETE the entry from all credit bureaus. It's not against the law to ask this, but they also by law aren't required to do it either. They may not accept that the first time you approach them...but they also know that any money is better than no money, and most will likely end up obliging.