Settling your credit card debt would mean that your creditors are ready to accept a payment less than the total outstanding balance as full payment. Let's say that you have a debt of ten thousand dollars and you have convinced your creditor to settle your account for 50 % of the total balance, then you can get out of this debt by paying only five thousand dollars. This requires a lot of patience and good negotiation skill, but at the end you can walk away by saving thousands of dollars that you do not have.
1.Creditors will not settle those accounts on which they are getting regular minimum payment. Hence, stop making payments. Most creditors will agree to settle your account only if they think that they will not be getting any money if they do not.
2.After certain time the account is handed to the collection agencies. You must ignore their threats of law suit or garnishing your wages as most of the companies do not want to make the expense of lawsuit unless the debt amount is too high.
3.During negotiations your opening offer should not be more than 25 % of the total outstanding balance. Many cases are settled for as low as 40 % of the total balance. Hence keep your start slow. You must not agree to an amount that you cannot pay.
4.Throughout the negotiation keep reminding your creditor that you are on the verge of filing for bankruptcy hence do not have much to offer. This will also hint on the fact that if you carry out your threat, they might get nothing. Keep negotiating till you get an offer which is mutually acceptable.
5.Keep your patience. The older the loan gets the harder it will be for the creditors to collect.

It is always better to opt for the debt settlement option to come out of debt and keep the rating intact as well.