'Fessing Up and Settling Up

Hendricks said Johnson is also wrong in thinking that paying the debt in full will positively affect her credit score. The problem is that once you become seriously delinquent on an account, the damage is done.

Paying the debt in full doesn't necessarily put you in a better position with a mortgage lender, either.

"From a mortgage perspective, as long as the debt was paid, whether it was for the full amount or under an agreement, is all that matters," said Deenice Galloway, a mortgage loan specialist in Bowie.

In evaluating mortgage applicants, lenders just want to see that the debt was resolved in some way, Galloway said.

So in Johnson's case -- as far as her credit score was concerned -- she could either pay the debt in full or accept the offer without either action affecting her credit score.

"I want to do the right thing either way," Johnson said. "I want to be able to sleep at night."

Then pay all of what you owe, I said.

After we corresponded, she called the debt collector and paid the debt in full.

I know that lots of folks would say she's a fool. That she should take the offer and keep her $10,000.

But that's just it. It's not her $10,000. That money rightfully belongs to her creditor.

"I'm a fool for having let it spin out of control in the first place," Johnson said. "If I pay less than I owe, even if the creditor accepts that, I would not really be debt-free. I want to be truly debt-free. That means on paper and in my soul."

Bravo to Johnson and her husband that when the time came for a hard question, they answered the right way. They let no debt remain outstanding, as the Bible says.