<prompt> Human: I lived in Georgia during college and just received a letter from a collection agency, ERSolutions, informing me that I have an outstanding balance of 293.00 with Georgia Natural Gas. They say they will settle for 12 of the outstanding amount in order to clear the old account. This very well could be owed, but I havent lived in GA in over 5 years. It states I have 30 days to dispute the validity, should I do this? Should I settle? Will doing so leave a bad mark on my credit? Should I attempt to pay the full amount in order to have it cleared from my credit?  <response>: contact the gas company direct to ensure that you actually owe the money - make sure its not a scam.google the collection company name and make sure theyre legit too, try a bbb search.get a free credit report from your credit bureau equifax, transunion, and whoever is in your area and see what debts might be on it. 