Dave Says: My Best Piece of Advice?

Dear Dave,
One of my credit card bills was turned over to a collection agency because I was late making payments several times. The agency has offered me two or three different payment options I can afford. If I agree to one of these, does the original creditor get paid, as well?
—Bethany

Dear Bethany,
You’re facing one of two possibilities. The collection agency is either directly representing the credit card company, or it owns the debt outright. Neither way of handling it is unusual when someone has defaulted on a loan.
Here’s the deal. You’ve already got a mark against you on your credit report for the bill being turned over to collections. So, at this point settling on a credit card you’ve defaulted on is really no big deal. Unless you have the cash on hand right now to make good on the debt outright, I’d accept whichever deal makes the most sense for you financially at the moment.
But if you want my very best piece of advice for you, and anyone else finding themselves in this kind of situation, Bethany, it goes something like this. Stop using credit cards!
— Dave