It's called Pay for Delete or PFD. Make sure you get it in writing before yuo pay, should you succeed in your negotiations. I would absolutely mention that your husband's sole income is social security and he is not expecting to go back to work.
@KoalaT wrote:I have just learned that collection agencies cannot garnish social security income. My husband has two medical debts on his credit report. One is in judgement that we do slow pay on. The judge had allowed for interest so over the last few years we have paid on it, we would have nearly had it paid off except for the interest puts us right back at the starting point.
Wakefield and Associates - $1935
National Recovery Agency - $1879
The Wakefield and Associates one is the one we do slow pay on. Now that I know they cannot garnish his social security, I am thinking of writing them a letter to ask for a settled amount in return they delete it from the credit report. I'm going to offer this to both, but should I mention that he is now retired, drawing SS and know they cannot garnish his wages? It is the only leverage I can think of to use with this one that has the judgement because it still has about seven more years due to the judgement lasting 10 years.
You can certainly contact them letting them know that your situation has changed (retirement, reduced income) and ask them if they'd be willing to settle the debt, but, they may require payment in full for the amount they agree to. If that doesn't work or isn't something you can do financially, being that your circumstances have changed, you should be entitled to ask the court to modify the judgement, and plead your case to the court. You'll need to look into the laws where you are but, the bad thing about judgements are that in most states they can be renewed. For example if they are good for ten years in your state, they can likely be renewed every 10 years, for another 10 years, and on and on and on until it's satisfied.
"It is very important for the judge to know that your money comes from Social Security, SSI, VA, or other federal or state benefits before the judge decides whether your money should be turned over to the debt collector." Now that things have changed. It may apply. More to read.
