Hi all.
Back in October I became delinquent on one of my credit cards (Chase) to the tune of over $5k. I was contacted by a collection agency and agreed to pay $450 a month, which I have religeously done every month since then.
This is not being reported as a collection account fortunately, but my Chase line is showing a status of Charge-Off, $3k currently past due, and every month I get another 180+ days late entry on my report. It's the multitude of building up '180' entries that I of course want to stop *now*.
I now have the money to pay this off in full. The CA has said that they are offering a settlement which would save me maybe $600.
Should I just send them a check for the settlement amount now? Or is there something else I can do which will lessen the impact of all this on my long-term score? I'm probably just grabbing at straws here, but what would be ideal is if I could ditch the CA, negotiate something directly with Chase, make 6 months of payments and close out the account with a Pays as Agreed. Which is precisely what I did with another card, but that one wasn't actually charged off yet. In this case the CA said Chase would refuse to even talk to me.
Guess I'm looking for any options here. If just paying it off and stopping any additional 180's is the best I can do then that's all I need to know.
Thanks!
