<prompt> Human: It was an old Capital One card that was charged off in 2006 for 5700, and went into public records in 2007. Sat on it for years due to no jobincome, and my own ignorance about credit. Tried setting up payments numerous times only to fail miserably because I couldnt hold onto a job for more than a year, and monthly payments were typically way beyond my ability to pay. At one point I was trying to put 50 of my monthly income towards these payments. I was almost evicted 3 months in a row because of this.Whenever Id move to a new state, the debt would get sold off and a new collections law firm would tack on their administrative fee of 1000. Finally got the money this past year to settle and decided to go for it. Turned out the original creditor bought the debt back. My first phone call, they offered to settle for half. I low-balled them and they came back with 3K. I said, Done deal.Felt so good to have that off my mind. Its amazing what your mental outlook on your finances can do. For years I felt ashamed that I was in such debt and couldnt do anything. I didnt think I deserved a good job or a solid financial situation because I couldnt handle money.Cant say I regret anything other than my wrecked credit score, which went up 50 points the past 18 months. I learned all about how credit works, and how important it is paying your bills on time. I also learned that collection companies buy your debt for pennies on the dollar. You might be 5k in the hole, but theyll buy it from the creditor for about 6 of that. So never hesitate to low-ball the shit out of them. Never, ever set up payments.My next goal is to establish a savings at the ripe old age of 35, and make a move towards a more lucrative career. Ironically, I have an auto loan and a new credit card both through Capital One.TL;DR - Paid off a credit card debt for less than half the balance. Oh the feels!  <response>: Congrats! My former, stupid 18 year old self let a Comcast equipment charge go into collections. 19 year old me paid it off. Then 22 year old me finally called up their collections department to see if they would have it removed from my report. And it worked.Not as good as your story but 40 credit score.Edit: someone downvoted me. suck my good credit balls 