<prompt> Human: So I was young and stupid still am and about 4 years ago I decided to apply for my first credit card. I had a job and lots of money so I figured I should start to build my credit by making small purchases on the card and paying it off immediately... That went well for a while until I started my first year of college with no source of income. Well i ended up maxing out my credit card a 700 limit and had no way to pay it off. They closed my account after I had missed 2 straight payments. So I ignored it for a while. a few years later, a few months ago I got a notice that it had been turned over to a collection agency and with all the interest Im sitting at a nice 1100 bill, which isnt much if you have money, but I dont really have much, and I have over 30,000 in student loans and Im still a student with not much income. Ive been reading about negotiating a one lump sum payment so we can settle on a lesser amount. However I also read that it will stay on my credit report 7 years from the time we settle, unless I can pay them a fee to remove it? Is that how this works? How hard is it to negotiate a lower settlement, and is this a good idea? Will it look bad on my credit if I dont pay the whole thing? Even if I were to pay the whole thing would the collection still negatively affect my credit? and could I pay a fee to remove that? I know it differs from person to person, but does anyone have a ballpark estimate on a settlement I should try to negotiate to? What kind of fee would I be looking at to have it removed from my credit history?Thanks in advance  <response>: This is a friendly reminder to visit our FAQ entry on Collections Also, please visit our FAQ!I am a botrAutoModeratorcommentsq11puwhat_is_automoderator, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subredditmessagecompose?to2Fr2Fpersonalfinance if you have any questions or concerns. 