Charge offs

[Anonymous]

i was ill and had to have a life saving operation 3 years ago... before i went into the hospital i made a settlement on my charge cards .. paying less than i owed .. i was told that this would not be a negative on my file but low and behold there are listed as being charge offs or showing late payments for more than 150 days some of these credit card companies have been taken over by others and have been hard to trace.. is there anyway to correct these now listed charge offs... my recent credit history is good but these charge offs are really hurting my credit scores... they range from 584 to 678 thanks for anyones help

[Anonymous]

First of all look for the original debt on your CR.  Make sure that none of the debts are still on 7 yrs after date of last delinquency.  If so dispute to have it removed along with the subsequent sell offs of the same accounts.  Once those are removed, its time to do some serious house cleaning.  See who you CAN pay.  Ask for settlements or whatever.  Never give info that you don't want them to have such as phone numbers as it is an attempt to collect a debt and just like Miranda, everything you say can and will be used against you.  Don't try to negotiate unless you can step up to the plate immediately.  Making promises you can't keep can re-age your accounts.  Make sure nothing has been re-aged, in other words is older than the 7 years it should be there.  Once you've exhausted all that the only thing else that can help is time.