From what you've read-and hopefully done-so far, you can take all that you know about your report and your situation and make some educated decisions about individual accounts.
Yet in the final analysis, it also pays to look at your situation from a holistic perspective.
In a case where you owe money to many different creditors, you must determine these two things: Do you have the money to settle with all of them? If so, will all of those creditors remove the adverse history? If not, what are acceptable terms when taken on the whole? This is where a collective assessment comes in.
Of course, the second question cannot be answered until you've spoken with all your creditors.
Go fishing first; see what they will agree to by using the art of negotiation and the techniques for repairing accurate adverse credit.
This exploratory work will enable you to discover what they are all willing to do, making it far easier to decide whom to pay how much-or whether to pay any of them at all.
If your situation is such that five of seven creditors agree to your terms, while the other two are on the brink of obtaining a judgment, perhaps it's better not to pay any of them.
Maybe it's better to pay them only if you can make the entire plan work to your satisfaction.
Of course, states differ.
In Oregon, for example, judgments remain on your credit report for 10 years, and if the attorney for the creditor takes the time, a 10-year renewal is an option, making it 20.
In Ohio a judgment stays on your report for five years, renewable indefinitely.
Of course, there are paid and unpaid judgments, paid ones having a less severe effect on a score and being less worrisome to an underwriter.
They are severe nonetheless.
Unsatisfied charge-offs (ones that you still owe money on) are also quite severe.
If your credit is picture-perfect except for a combination of two judgments or unsatisfied charge-offs, you will likely have significant trouble obtaining any credit at all.
If you cannot get all your creditors to agree to terms that are favorable, that doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't pay any of them.
It just means that you must look at your particular circumstances and carefully decide.
If you find that "hold-outs" to your proposals are making the entire plan unworkable, think carefully before you pay any of the debts.
Some scenarios are so extreme that it doesn't make sense to pay any of your creditors.
These are situations where the total debt is so high and the number of unyielding creditors so great that settling with a few won't help at all.
In these rare circumstances, bankruptcy is certainly an option.