I went through this with my daughter several years ago. I used it as an opportunity to teach some lessons that I had apparently neglected in her formative years. I told her that I would deal with any and all collection agencies and collectors but that she would need to get two jobs and turn over her paychecks to me. I then gave her an allotment that was reasonable to live on and used the rest to pay her bills. Each time I recieved a bill from a collection agent I called them explained the situation and offered them a settlement. Each and every one settled for approx. half what she owed. She had to be present and on speakerphone while I negotiated with her creditors(my rule) and she learned quite a lot about how to deal with people. When one agent swore at me I politely informed him that he was in violation of the fair credit laws and that I would call him again next month and that all future communication with him would be recorded(necessary in the state of NY). Dave Ramsey recommends a similar approach. Be sure to get agreement in writing prior to making payment. At the end of the process she was proud of herself for paying everyone off with her own money. She has had no further debt issues. Good luck.
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS get them to agree in writing to remove the negative account from the credit report.
They want your money, you want a clean report. I’d rather pay the debt in full and have the account removed from my report than get a discount have it on my report with a “settled for less than owed” notation and the likelihood of a 1099 for the other half of the settled amount.
Also, even though a bill collector has it. Always try to get the original creditor to pull the account back and deal with them. If they still own the account you will find the original creditor much more willing to agree with you. Also, if you can get them to agree to either change the reported info to positive or delete it all together you can get the account completely off the report.