Both credit card charge-offs and debt settlement can harm your credit, but one gives you a chance to recover faster.

Here's how to find every collection account hiding on your credit report (and how to finally resolve them for good).

W hen you fall behind on your credit card payments, the consequences can snowball a lot faster than you may expect. For ...

If you've fallen behind on a $5,000 debt and a collection agency is hounding you for payments, you might be worried about what happens next. Owing a few thousand dollars to a debt collector can put ...

Complaints about aggressive debt collection have skyrocketed in recent months, federal data shows, a sign that more Americans are falling behind on credit cards and medical bills. The rise in ...

Consumers take bill collectors to court, earning the label "credit terrorists." Feb. 5, 2010 — -- Americans with overdue debts usually face a daunting parade of punishments. First come the ...

In order to fund the billions of dollars worth of uncompensated care they provide annually, hospitals are using Web sites to sell off millions in collectible debt to the highest bidder, reports the ...