The age of a debt can help to get a good reduced settlement figure, the older the debt is, the less you have to fight to get a good low settlement figure. Remember, with older debts, they may have been sold on a number of times at only pennies in the pound. Therefore, a fairly low settlement offer, could mean that the debt company are still making a good profit from purchasing the debt. It is always advisable to show on an income and expenditure, that there are insufficient funds each month to make monthly payments. If you don't have any assets, then this will also help you to get a much lower settlement.