Hey all. I finally got around to writing about this.

I've been really dumb about paying some old credit card debt. These are almost all CC's that I stopped paying about 2 1/2 years ago. ALl these accounts have since gone to collections/charge offs/transferred. They've reported to my CAs as such.

I also owe the IRS some money too. That's accrusing interest and penalties. I have a repayment plan with them and am paying it at that rate. At this rate, IRS will be paid off in 3 1/2 years.

The CC accounts are not still accrusing any interest, etc.

I want to buy a house. So, I've been contacting the CC companies by letter and making an offer to compromise. A lot of the amounts are overlimit fees and late fees - so much that the balances they report are about double what the amount should have been with original debt plus interest. I've sent my first draft to all of them, which was basically, taking the amount of the original debt without overlimit and late fees added, then I've offered to pay them 50 percent, over a 12 month period. My agreements state that after they are paid in full, they mark my credit bureous with "Paid in full, as agreed" and then delete any entries that show the account as late"

I've gotten about 1/3 of them to respond. Of the 1/3 that responded so far, one has accepted my agreement without modification, and a few more have indicated they want more money. If I pay them more, it will take money from the others - so that I won't pay them all off in 12 months. So, I feel like I should "bluff" bankruptcy, in which case, they won't get but maybe 10 cents on the dollar. I think I should continuue to press them to take 50 to 60 percent and no more.

They do not seem to have a problem with the reporting aspect, they just want more money; either all at once, or more per month and fewer payments. One asked for 100 percent, but in 6 months.

I have talked to a mortgage loan officer and they've basically told me that they won't loan me money for a house until all the charge-offs have been paid. And the IRS agreement is fine as long as it's kept up. It doesn't have to be paid in full first.

Should I just save the money until I can offer them all 50 percent in one lump sum? Or press on for monthly payments?

Any suggestions?