credit Q. re: negotiating with collection agency

What is the name of your state? CA

I am asking this question on behalf of my brother.

What is the best way to negotiate an overdue and in collections debt? I want to write a letter for him to help him pay them as little as he can get away with and repair his credit at the same time. It was a student loan that went into collections and they finally started to garnish his wages, so they have been getting something.

FYI: He never knew about the loan - our parents took out student loans (forging his signature), intending to pay them back, but they divorced and our mom couldn't afford to pay but she felt too guilty to tell him (all the bills were going to her) so she just let them slide until, several years later, his tax refund never arrived and finally a letter came explaining the situation. He doesn't want to claim they were fraudulant because our mom can't pay and he doesn't want to create problems for her.

The goal is to negotiate a pay off for as little as possible and repair negative credit. What's the best approach?

Thanks!

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

There are others better than I who can answer your current question, but I still want to know the outcome of the "parking space" situation. What's gone on, and what's going on?

IAAL