ready to lump sum pay a defaulted student loan

[whitesox1984]

I have recently come into enough money to pay off the the entire balance of my defaulted student loan which is roughly $9,000 as of today. I dropped out of school about 5 years ago and the debt was originally much less. What is the best to go about paying this off?

I have 2 different credit agencies the ISAC and my bursars office mailing me different bills, I think the main one is is NCO and they consider the debt to be a lump sum of 8446. I want to pay the lowest possible amount obviously, and I am unsure if negotiating a settlement is even possible or would have consequences. Really I am clueless how to approach this as I have been pretty deadbeat about the whole thing up to this point.

[disneysteve]

If you have the money to pay the bill, pay the bill. Don't try to negotiate a settlement unless you truly can't afford the full amount.

Contact the creditor and get a pay off amount in writing. Send your payment but don't do anything that gives them access to your bank account. No electronic transfer. Don't even use a personal check. Get a cashier's check from your bank.

Follow up to make sure it was received and get a statement that the account was paid in full. In 60-90 days, pull your credit report and make sure they reported it as paid in full.