There are certain keys involved in settling credit card debt. First, you must be delinquent in your monthly payments, three to six months or in collections. Creditors will not even consider settling for anything less than the full balance unless the account is seriously past due. A seriously past due account would be 120 plus days. When the account approaches 180 days past due the creditor is most likely considering "charging off" the account. Charge off doesn't mean you don't owe the debt anymore, it simply means the creditor gains a tax advantage by "writing off" the debt as a "bad debt expense" for which they get an expense reduction on their tax return.