It's all about recoverability and risk over return. Most of the time a 5-figure debt will be worth the effort. When you start getting into $5k or less debts, it's sort of a crapshoot. The original owner of the debt will often sell it for pennies on the dollar, at which point a collector will do their best to get as much as they can out of people without a civil case, because civil cases are expensive and there's no real guarantee of return (people with no money, people on the verge of bankruptcy, etc).
The general advice is not to negotiate at all with creditors. Once something's gone into collections, you will see no benefit to resolving the debt other than mitigating your risk of a law suit. And even at that point, the first phase is a mediation option wherein you'd again be able to throw out a number, do a payment plan, etc.
It's all about recoverability and risk over return. Most of the time a 5-figure debt will be worth the effort. When you start getting into $5k or less debts, it's sort of a crapshoot. The original owner of the debt will often sell it for pennies on the dollar, at which point a collector will do their best to get as much as they can out of people without a civil case, because civil cases are expensive and there's no real guarantee of return (people with no money, people on the verge of bankruptcy, etc).
The general advice is not to negotiate at all with creditors. Once something's gone into collections, you will see no benefit to resolving the debt other than mitigating your risk of a law suit. And even at that point, the first phase is a mediation option wherein you'd again be able to throw out a number, do a payment plan, etc.