Six months ago, a relative opened a capital one credit card under my name and owed them $8000. She walked away without paying a single cent, but I agreed not to file police report if she goes to rehab. Now the Capital one people offered me two options to pay the debt:

1. Settle for $5000 but my credit score will take a hit.

2. I can pay $850 in down payment and $150 a month thereafter until the debt is paid off and they will clear the negative from my credit report.

Is there anyway I can get a better deal, considering I did not open the credit card and I never receive any bill from them. I am thinking If I can just pay a lump sum of 50% of the debt and get my credit report cleared too.

Why do you feel you need to pay for it? What happens when she is out of rehab?

I'd be leery of that offer, I've never seen Capital One willingly remove a negative.

You are in somewhat of a bind. You could use FACTA to get the negative removed from your report, but it'd require filing a police report. Since you've chosen to not file a report, using the fact that the account was opened fraudulently isn't going to be an option.

I'd guess that it's reporting in a negative fashion now. The only thing that will change when you pay it is they'll update it to "paid", but it'll still be negative.
In that light, I'd go for the lowest settlement amount they'll accept and work on the clean-up once it's paid.

Yeah Cap1 isn't going to remove anything, you can basically forget any ploy or promise they are making you