Hi and Welcome here to the forums,
What you need to know is your states SOL(statue of Limitations). That is the time period a creditor can take you to court and win.
You'll see here in the forums, were we talk about within SOL or Passed SOL.
Within SOL means a creditor can take you to court. Passed SOL means you are no longer held legally responsible for the debt.
Just because a debt is passed SOL, doesn't mean the creditor stop trying to collect, they will try to collect forever.Key word TRY.
Now, if you get a summons to court, go to court and if passed SOL, tell and prove to the court it's passed SOL.
If you dont go they can win on default, you dont want that, so always go to court if summons.
It's helpful to know if you're passed the SOL and you are willing to pay the debt.Because, you may come to an agreement with the CA and settle for less then the full amount.Just make sure it says something like "settled for less/considered PIF" so they don't come after you for the balance.
There's a sticky called State resources 4th one from the top, you can find your states SOL there or Google your states name + Statue of Limitations Hope this info helps.
Re-aging an account would start the SOL over again.A Credit counseling co can not promise what a creditor will or will not do, only the creditor can agree to what they will do and what they will not do.
As long as the creditor is reporting correctly, the creditor doesn't have to change anything.
I would be very very careful talking with Credit counseling companies.The one that is the non-profit is the only one I would trust.
The others just take your all your money,lie to you,ruin you credit.Also they don't care if your FICO score tanks.
You can do the same thing, a Credit counseling company can do.
You said "you don't want to shoot yourself in the foot" I understand, you are very smart to come here at my FICO and understand how all of this works.I very proud of you wanting to pay this debt off. You said you are afraid to call to make payment, afraid they may answer with a summons to court. But if you don't call, they may start legal action anyway.
Let me understand correctly....
Beside this Discover CO, all other debt are either paid for or you are paying payments to the creditor, right?
So Discover debt is the last debt to pay. You said you don't have the funds to PIF. Do you have a downpayment to pay them? Do you know about how long it will take to pay off this debt?
I don't have any experience with a CO with Discover. I did a few searches for you, here's what is found....
Search for "Discover CO making payments"
Search for "paying Discover CO"
Instead of typing in CO use " charge off" or whatever comes to mind, You get the picture. The search function is very useful.
Read the stickys, old post and ask questions.Thats what we are here for.
Sorry for the long post, I'll let others chime in. Knowledge is Power!! Have fun reading!!