Credit agony!

You may not be able to do anything now that they are in the hands of the law. i would suggest you contact the card issuers and see if you can work something out w/ them. They can make it so that there is NO MORE interest accumulated on the cards. This way, they get paid and you will see it go away. YOU HAVE TO ASK though. Good Luck. Been there and it worked for me!!!

debt management companies negotiate with the law offices also. Do you know the status of your account if it's sold to the law office? If the creditor hasn't sold your file to them, the counselor can arrange direct payments with the creditors and fix better payment plan. Someone will be calling for the free consultation. Get all your account statements and other details for an easy discussion.

When the law office calls you next time, let them know that you have hired a debt management company and they will be contacting them soon.

If these debts are 5 to 10 years old then they should be off or almost off your credit report. They can only be reported for 7 years. If you make a payment that 7 years starts all over again, so check out the statute of limitations in your state and see how long before they are off before you make a decision to pay.

Paying a debt doesn't restart the SOL period. No one can sue you in the court after the expiry of the SOL. You get the legal protection.

The debt is still valid and it will be there in the credit file until the reporting timeframe as mentioned in the FCRA.