I am on a deadline to bring my credit score up, will settling accounts make it worst?

I am on a deadline to bring my credit score up, will settling accounts make it worst?

I have 30-45 days and I have negotiated on some of my accounts already.

The Answer : Very bad answers here! Only newport38 knows what they are talking about.Let me explain how the "game" works.When a negative item is first placed on your credit report, it is considered a recent activity. The formula used to calculate your credit scores gives those items more importance then older items, and they have a very bad effect.As time goes by, the report gets older and it becomes less important. After around 5 years it only has a minor effect on your credit. When you pay off an old debt, the creditor is NOT required to delete any of the negative information. He is only required to show that the debt is now "paid" or "settled"....therefore you think it's helping thing. But it isn't.To make it even worse, when they report the new status, it now changes the status of this item to recent again, and your credit score will actually drop!Therefore, what you need to do is negotiate a settlement with the creditor, and demand that they agree IN WRITING to DELETE the entry from your credit reports. Anything else is only going to hurt your score.30-45 days is a very short time to improve your credit scores. Be sure you factor this into your negotiations, and demand that they report this immediately to the agencies.