The creditor is required by law to charge off an account after it has been delinquent for 180 days. The account is usually bought by a third party collector for 2-3 cents on the dollar. The collector will proceed with collection action for the entire amount of the debt plus interest and any fees that are allowable pursuant to the state laws where the debtor resides. If an equitable repayment agreement cannot be made, the collector may submit the account to a collections attorney who can then file a lawsuit in the state where the debtor lives. There are also collection attorney firms who have been granted arbitration status. That involves a somewhat different procedure...Macky (macky83@juno.com)