<prompt> Human: Hi PF,So last night I got a call from a debt collector trying to get me to pay off an 800 debt I owe them from a credit card. Ive only had one credit card in my life, and its sitting in my pocket with a 0 balance. Long story short, my mom took out this credit card in my name two years ago and never paid it off, so it went to collections.Im absolutely furious with her and she has no money. If it would have been anyone else that did this to me, I would have gone straight to the police, but since its my mom, Im not going to do that.The collector has offered to settle for 640, but thats more money that I have to just blow on a debt I had nothing to do with. I need advice on settling with the collector. Ive searched online and read a few subreddits about settling and I guess this is what Im mainly asking:1. Should I even settle this? For 800, its unlikely that they would put up the money for an attorney.2. For anyone that has settled with a debt collector, what amount should I offer to pay them to resolve the debt?3. How will settling vs. not paying affect my credit?4. Any other advice would be helpful.Before I pay them ANYTHING, I will get their final offer in writing.  <response>: I think youre crap outta luck if you dont go to the police and report this. If you report this, you would get a police report and that can be sent to the CRAs to dispute the debt is yours.You also need to remember that if you dont report, this will stay on your report for 7 years and the effects are lasting. It will increase your APRs on loans and credit cards, your car insurance they use credit score to help determine your rates will go up. It can potentially even result in you missing out on a job offer. In essence, youre going to be PAYING MORE in the long run still after paying the debt collector off.I realize this sounds harsh and I understand why youre doing what youre doing, but I just wanted to let you know that the ramifications go further out than just increased interest rates. 