What is better? Charge-off or Charge-off-settled?

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

Had some difficulties a couple of years back.  A debt was charged off and the agency who bought the debt offered me a settlement.  I took the settlement.  

Now the question is - should I try to get the original debtor to change the account to charge-off "settled" or leave it as "charged off" with no status change?  

Which is better/worse for my credit?  

Thanks!!

[BmoreBull]

As long as the OC is reporting a 0 balance, you should be ok. Did the collection agency remove themselves from your reports?

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Doesn't matter unless there's a manual review. At that point you might be questioned as to why you settled versus paying the debt in full.

[Anonymous]

It shows a $0 balance. The collections accounts never showed on my credit report and never will because the company who bought the debt is not legally allowed to report to credit bureaus (I found out when settling).