Negotiating and Paying off old debts, strategy?

Don't fool with the original creditors. Go to each collection agency to deal with this. I just in the last 3 months have done what you are going to do. First thing to do on the credit cards is to ask what the lowest amount they will accept. The collection agencies are great about settling credit card debt. I saved over 1000.00 on one cc alone, by asking. I ask them to report this to the three credit bureaus as settled in full. They said yes. After you make a settlement, make sure you write paid in full on each check. (I got this from financial counselor Suzy Orman). The collection agency will contact the credit bureaus for you and tell them this bill has been resolved in full. The collection agencies will also send you a letter stating that they are paid in full. I was unable to make a deal with the water company, but I paid them off in full. It will take a while to get things straightened out, but so worth it. I am finally debt free. But it is up to the credit bureaus to remove this junk off your reports. The way I understand it since your bills will be settled in full, they will have to remove all the negative info.from your report as though it never existed. I think it may take about 3 months to get everything settled, US bank told me after you pay the bills off. It is usually time consuming to work with credit bureaus, but we all have to.