Credit Reports ARE pulled for settlement

It is definitely a factor. When I was settling I had CC companies say 'Well I see you have defaulted on others" or "I see you are still paying ABC".

They know you are serious when they see others defaulting.

They definately are looking for several things. 1. Are you not paying other creditors 2. Do you still have credit available anywhere that you could tap to pay them 3. does it appear you are strategically defaulting.

Cap One was the worst on this. They kept saying that I had credit available at my bank on an overdraft account that had been closed but not reported as such. Same with my home equity line of credit that clearly showed late payments the same time I defaualted on the cc, but they were insistent that I had money available there to pay them. They told me that I would have to provide a letter showing it had been closed. Fortunately I settled later that day with them before having to go through those hassles.

I also had to explain why I was paying my bank's cc but no one else - because if I default they can come and take my car since the car loan is also with the same bank and unbeknownst to me they have cross collaterialized everything.

so the moral of the story is to make sure your story matches up with your credit report.

When I settled my husband's business accounts....my biggest problem was that I was borrowing from my family to pay mine....so I was very fortunate ....I explained that my family was letting me borrow enough to pay my ccs off but only to settle my husbands. I settled my husband's first and then said I needed to talk with my family (which was true) to see what they could do about mine.
But several times, they said "we see you have always paid on time....you have never been late" ....we even had a couple of real nice people who said this is happening to a lot of folks who have never been late or had problems before....some wished us good luck!
So, they definitely could see our credit was maxed out....including our HELOC!! they have it right there as your talking to them!!! Even store credit cards!!!

"Interesting....... maybe that's how they determine who they will settle"

Without a doubt they are looking at the old credit report.
Had it happen several times during my journey.

They'll want you to tap out any available source of capital.
Had a boa-the snake account for 52k that I had whittled down to 39k.

A couple of cc csr's wanted me to borrow from it.
But alas, boa-the snake had lowered my limit to the amount due.

Kind of like one vampire feeding off of another!

Regards,
King "Kash" Jabba Labba