DEAR BRUCE: My son has credit card debt. He quit paying a year ago. The nonpayment, late payment and interest have now been placed on the account over the original charges. A debt-recovery company has purchased the default. The group has offered a settlement offer for the original charges. This seems like a good opportunity to settle this account. What steps should be taken to ensure this is indeed a settlement and will close this financial fiasco? -- J.D., via e-mail

DEAR J.D.: While you didn't indicate that he hasn't done it before, I'd be willing to gamble that he has. If you pay off his debts, you're just rewarding his bad behavior. That having been observed, since the debt-settlement company has purchased his account, not only would they be willing to settle for the original charges, but very likely significantly less. You call this a financial fiasco. It appears your son has acted very irresponsibly. The first thing you ought to do is head off that irresponsible behavior. If you choose to settle this, I'm sure you can negotiate it for a substantially less money since this company very likely paid only pennies of the dollar for the account.