I'd like to settle with credit card companies to p

Nope. They are entitled to report for 7 years from the date of your last payment.

Are your accounts past due?

Thanks so much for answering my inquiry. I'm so stupid I thought when people responded I'd get an e mail. Didn't realize I had to come back to look. Glad I did.

Yes, they are past due by 7 months now. Impossible to pay because my husband's work as a home renovator dropped like a slug over the past 1.5 years, till it dwindled to nothing. He's 72 so not exactly in place to go find a full time job, not even a part time one. We both collect SS so all we've been living on are those fixed payments and barely able to buy food. Just recently we cashed in on some dividends from his life insurance policy so we could catch up the bills. We have a house up for sale that by all accounts should sell quickly and as soon as we do then we'll be able to settle with all the creditor's. We've kept up our payments on some of our bills, but had to let others fall to the way side.

Just today I spoke to a really nice gent from Chase and worked out a deal that I could send them a payment for two of my smaller accounts to keep them from going to collectioin. He told me he made notes of everything we talked about so when I'm ready to settle, all the information is there. He said they would cut the balance by 50%, but I'll try for more since they are not the only ones I owe. I have a 3rd. account that is also past due but he didn't mention it so I suppose they've already charged that off.

I can only do what I can do and not worry about it. I have had excellent credit for 45 years which is reflected in my credit report. Unfortunately those 7 bad marks have ruined me in a matter of months. Years to get it excellent and a day to tear it down.

Thanks again.

No, credit card companies will not clear your previous record from your credit report immediately until you have made payment. At first, you need to make settlement with creditors. After that, repay debt according to the terms and conditions of settlement given by credit card companies. Credit card companies will update your account status as
“Paid as settled” or “Paid as agreed”.