1. Always negotiate before you pay off or make a payment to catch up on payments that are over 30 days late, in collections, in charge off, or in bad standing
2. If you catch an account early you have the best chance of getting negaive informtation changed or removed.
3. With a payment that have just become 3 days late, call and explain your position before you pay. Ask for help. If they agree ask for confirmation in writing or a phone ticket number for confirmation. If they can provide neither, then pay it anyway and pray they choose to abide by thier word.
4. Accounts that are in charge off/collections with the original creditor should be negotiated for a lessor amount, since the creditor will not be able to remove delete or improve the account standing on your credit report Shoot for 30 cents on the dollar and be willing to accept 50 cents on the dollar. Get agreements in writing. And get confirmation it has been paid in writing in case the account still shows up negative at a later date. This is why it is good to get credit monitoring so you can see if they creditor in fact did what they said they would do.
5. Accounts that are in 2nd party collections should also be negotiated. Usually for 30 cents on the dollar. If the orignal account is more than 2 years old since the Date Of Last Activity, then you should never pay the account in full since the collector only paid 5 - 15 cents for the account in the first place.
6. Remember that any 2nd party collection should be disputed and then validated to make sure that collection agency actually has the legal authority and legal chain of custody to collect and report on this debt in the first place.

  I "Bo Majors" had a charge off for 345 dollars in 1990 with Fair Credit Credit Cards. In 1992 I called them and told them I needed good credit and that I would pay the 345.00 and add and extra 300.00 down payment to start new good credit.
 They agreed.
 I charged gas and paid extra each month for 12 months.
 I called and asked them Fair Credit Credit Cards to remove anything older than 24 months which was a charge off, 5, 30 days late, 2, 60 days late and 1, 90 days late and they did.
 My I checked my credit report and everything with BP Oil now said 400.00+ high credit limit with 0.00 dollars owed and a perfect "no late's" payment record. 
 My score jumped huge in less than 13 months.

 The best fix bad credit move I ever made. Negotiate and pay. 

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 I "Bo Majors" also had a bad credit collection from getting stitches at the local medical clinic. The medical clinic sold my bad debt to a collection agency within 120 days. After about 1 years I called the collection agency and asked if I paid the bill off in full would they remove the bad credit from my report. They said only the medical clinic could authorize that. I called the clinic and got an ok for the collection agency to take the debt off if I would pay the debt in full with fees right now to the clinic. I called the collection agency who called the clinic and we had a deal. I paid in full and the collection agency removed the bad credit. My score jumped right then.

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More on Negotiating with creditors and Collection Agencies

1. When I check my credit report and find an account reported as a charge off then, a creditor has had to zero my balance on their books. My account is no longer considered an asset on the creditors books. Creditor charge off's usually happens after six months of no payment on the bad account.
2. The balance of the account is then transfered to either the in house collection agency or a 2nd party collection agency.
3. Having accounts listed as a charge off does not mean I don't have to pay. Charge offs damage or hurt my credit score. Original creditors many times have a "In House" collection agency they assign to collect past due balances, so I don't look at a charge off as a debt I don't have to pay.
4. In house collection agencies are better for my credit because this usually ensures I will not have 2 records of the same account on my credit report.
5. Always try to contact the original creditor s quick as possible to keep from having 2 records of the same account on your credit report.
6. s rather than the collection agencies if possible. I try to negotiate a payment plan with the creditor but I make sure I can and will pay. Defaulting on any agreement will only put more bad credit on my credit report.
7. Sometimes I can get creditors to remove charge offs' from my credit reportsand replace them with "paid as agreed" and "on time" by catching the account quickly and offering to pay in full immediately or make a monthly payment plan.  
8. All creditors want their money back and sometimes agree to remove bad credit in exchange for regular payments. Not all creditors will be willing. I always try to negotiate before making any payments and get any agreement in writing prior to making my first payment. I use written agreements to dispute these accounts if the accounts have not be updated like they should have. This is why it is useful to get credit monitoring. You can monitoring to make sure the changes that are supposed to be made actually are made
9. If I can't get a creditor to remove a charge off and report the bad credit as paid as agreed, then I try for account closed, paid, or settled. I can also try to get creditors to drop interest if I make immediate payment in full. Once I make any payment no matter how small I will lose my bargaining position. 
10. Charge off's are company accounting issues and a black and white business step to take. Creditors do not deliberately try to slur my  credit record so I never don't take it personally. I use a business attitude when dealing with creditors and I never try to use moral high ground as a case.
11.  I negotiate with creditors, keep records and copies of the mail I send and receive and I use a business language.  
12. When I contact an original creditor or collection agency in an attempt to bargain for credit  and make payments to delete, update or remove bad credit I am saying "Here I am, I have money and I will pay you?
13. I always remember creditors can still sue me in court for the owed  balance and I will be liable for costs on top. I am cautious to not push my luck too far while negotiating payment and.
14. I continually use pre-emptive credit negotiation if and when I have problems or issues arise concerning late payments on any of my  reported loans or credit cards.

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I paid my student loan off but they did not take the bad credit off my report. What do I do now?
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really the thing to do is
negotiate if possible before you pay.
do not pay a negotiated price until you receive a signed company letterhead statement

collections that are old>
like past 2 years you might as well negotiate and pay them a settled amount.
or
validate them to death. They only paid .20 on the dollar so do not pay in full.

anything less than 1-2 years old in collections
call the original creditor
ask for a manager
and explain here i am i want to do right.
but at the same time i want right to be done by me.

if the account is listed twice as a collection and a charge off
one has to go to do right by me.

2005 or later means you should try to settle for extremely less on collections and forget the original creditor.

do not send a check
send a money order so they do not get your checking account info.

and some sites are like problems

i would call them all
talk listen
remember names dates and times

changing dates of last activity is a serious legal issue
there are so many circumstances that i do not care myself

i want everything to show paid in full and as agreed or just paid
and go on with my life
but it sounds like you have some issues that many people would work till death or suit.
me
i work with PEOPLE.
I am a reasonable human being

you have done the RIGHT thing with your student loan
you will reap the rewards.

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