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Hi everyone, I did a search on the forums and was unable to find a scenario like mine. If there is one and I missed it, I apologize in advance for overlooking that. When it comes to my question, it originates from a medical debt collection started in 2011 that, as far as I know, came from me breaking my hand in 2010 and being of legal age. Although I signed all of the medical documents, my parents were going to pay the medical bill as I did not have income to pay for it because I was a full-time student. With that said, my parents accidentally stopped paying the debt (I believe it was being paid for on a charge card and they received new cards), and it eventually ended up on my credit report, resulting in around $1600-$1700 in debt. So, why am I worried about it now that it is almost 2.5 years away from being removed from my credit report? It is because I have a flawless credit history outside of this collection and I honestly want to correct this "mistake" so I can continue on with having my "perfect" credit history. Now that I am graduating college and am possibly looking at moving out soon, I want to be able to have a clean-slate and not run into any issues with my credit history. I am also looking at applying for another credit card or two as my credit score is slightly above 700. Now my question to you friendly folks is this, I have read about settling and seriously pursuing the "pay for delete" route because that is the best case scenario for me, but where do I start?. I have the money to offer a sizable settlement amount, but I do want to try to settle for as low as possible as I know they buy the loan from doctors for pennies on the dollar. As a side note, this debt is still owned by the original CA that filed the delinquency back in 2011. Do I send a letter of validation even though I believe the debt is accurate and all of the notes match up with the original source of debt (the hospital)? If I do and I receive confirmation, do I offer 20% of the debt and work my way up from there? Do I run the risk of having them "reset" the SOL if I try to settle for a pay for delete? I am very serious about getting this removed, and am willing to spend generously if that's what it takes, but I'd rather start low and work my way up from there. This was what I was thinking about saying when I call them, "Hi, “name" I was hoping to be able to speak with someone about being able to settle a collection on my credit report. I inherited debt that I did not know was not being paid, and am hoping to be able to make it right and come to an agreement. As a result of this agreement, I am hoping that we can also agree that this will be a pay for delete settlement and you will contact the credit agencies to have this derogatory mark removed." If you made it through this post, I want to say thank you very much for your time and hope that you can provide me with any advice on how to approach this situation. Having this removed from my credit report would be absolutely amazing for me and my mental "well-being."