How do you and what advice can you give for negotiating payment of old debt?

I just looked at my credit report and although fairly good there are a couple of things from my marriage that I want to get cleaned up. The other person wont do it.Nonetheless. I know I can negotiate a lower pay off. Any advice?? Sample letters even?';:) Precentage that is fair? I really dont know where to start.How do you and what advice can you give for negotiating payment of old debt?
First, find out what the statue of limitations is in your state for debt. You can check the link below to find out.





http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/鈥?/a>





Those that our past the SoL you are safe from, as you no longer have a legal obligation to repay that debt. One trick I've heard of is to send these collection agencies a CMRRR (certified mail return receipt request) stating that the debt is past the SoL, but demanding that they validate the debt per the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act.





I've heard of people who have done this and the collection agencies simply give in and remove the listing, since they know it's past the SoL and they don't want to waste the time to validate.





As far as negotiating the debt, I'd start at 30% of the balance you owed (not including any interest and fees they have tacked on) and work from there. Make sure that in exchange for payment they delete the negative mark (not simply show it as paid) from your credit report and consider it paid in full.





Below are 3 links that you will find helpful. They include information on negotiation, pay for delete agreements and sample letters.





http://www.creditinfocenter.com/repair/


http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/


http://creditinfocenter.com/forms/How do you and what advice can you give for negotiating payment of old debt?
Go to www.daveramsey.com


He is a best-selling financial author and radio host, and he specializes in free help for people in situations like yours.





Don't pay for financial help, you can get books from the library, and anyone who offers to help you for a fee is invested in you being broke ... something of a conflict of interest, don't you think?
Start by going to the links Crazy gives you. That site is a commercial site but it's loaded with a lot of great FREE consumer advice.





Another stop is http://www.creditboards.com and read their forum messages.
I called and spoke with each of my credit card company and simply asked them to see how much they could lower my interest rate, With some you may have to speak with a supervisor, but generally you will get some results.





If you can, first search for a credit card with a long term low rate and a low balance transfer option. if your credit card providers do not want to lower your rate, then transfer the balance.
You don't say what these debts are but I was in a similar possition with credit cards that were in both our names but were exclusively his to use. I never used them but was stuck with them after the divorce. You can always wait for one of the transfer ads to come in the mail that has a lower interest rate or go to a debt management company to consolidate all your debts to one payment you can afford.