<prompt> Human: I have owed this for 2 years without making a payment, long story, bad life choices, trying to right the ship now. The question I have is, should I try to settle and pay them 500 to close the account or pay them off until i pay the whole 850. Im pretty sure that it will say paid if negatively or something if i choose the former. Also, everyone says there is no way to get the creditor to completely remove it off of your credit, is that true? thanks.  <response>: Settling with them damages your score, because it demonstrates a lack of financial responsibility. Basically you borrowed the money and then didnt pay it all back.Granted, settling is better than bankruptcy, but its not better than actually paying off the debt.You can attempt to negotiate a pay for delete from them. Here you pay an amount and they agree to delete the debt from your credit report. Unfortunately it wont do much if its gone to collections. The collection agency can remove their entry, but not all the past due balance reports from the original creditor. 