<prompt> Human: I went to college and have been negotiating my debt for some time now with the school. They recently sent my tuition to a debt collector and we settled on a price a lot lower than what i originally owe. They say I can pay by credit card but just handing this much money over the phone seems really irresponsible because ive gotten messages from another debt collector as well. How do I know if theyre legit ?EDIT: Just to clarify, I owed around 10,000 and talked them down to 2,000. Im able to pay them in full by next month and they said they agree to forgive the debt if its paid by april 31st. Is there anything I should know before I agree to this?  <response>: Ask for it in writing. Ask for the name of the representative. Ask for the location of their call center. Record the call. Get something in writing regarding the debt so you know it is a legitimate company.You are questioning if this is a scammer. This is way too precise to be a scam. A scammer will use generality to get you to pay. IE You owe back taxes and must pay now, You appear to have a large sum of credit card debt, we will consolidate all of it for XXX.XXYou know this debt exists. The chances that some random person knows you have this debt, and can quote you realistic numbers is a longshot. Most companies will take a settlement on large amounts in these cases. They look in the context of, its better to get something rather than nothing.Collection company will buy the debt from the originator. They look at a lot of risk factors. Your credit being the main one. If they see you as a high risk account they might see it as a good idea to get you to pay at a reduced cost rather than not at all. These collections company will buy debt for pennies on the dollar. 