Given my situation, should I negotiate with CA or OC

[wja1969]

I have 4 CC's that have not been paid for 18 months. None are listed in collections yet on my credit report, but all appear as chargeoffs from the OC and each OC has assigned the debt to their respective CA. Given the length of time (18 months), the CA's are already offering 25% of the balance to settle.

I've recently come into a bonus from work and I'm willing to pay the settlements offered. However, I am not buying a house or otherwise pressed to settle. My only goal here is absolute credit repair and total deletion from my credit report.

So I'm trying to understand the dynamics here. If I go back to the OC, won't they point me back to the CA? Even worse, wouldn't the OC offer far higher settlement rates up to 80%, which would cost me more?

Most important to me, if I work with the CA and they agree to total deletion, does that bind the OC to the same agreement? I've been considering using the boilerplate letters and verbiage that Credit Infocenter recommends. This passage in particular seems like it might do the trick:

"The COLLECTION AGENCY certifies that it is legally authorized to act in behalf of its CLIENT and that any agreement that the COLLECTION AGENCY makes on behalf of CLIENT is legally binding on the CLIENT."

Anyway, I have researched a great deal and I understand the methodology for repairing my credit. I just wanted to gain some insights on how I should differentiate between the OC and CA, which one should I work with directly given my particular situation and who really holds the power?

Thanks to all the smart folks in this forum. Helping others is a wonderful thing