If you owe a credit card company and your credit report says that the account is charged off do you still have to pay the debt?

Sorry to disagree with the previous poster. You do indeed still have to pay. A charge off is a term used by the original creditor to indicate the debt is being removed from their books. That is done for tax purposes, so it can be claimed as a loss. The account will be sold to a third party who will then pursue payment in full collection. If an agreement cannot be reached, the collection agency may resort to legal remedies, in other Words a lawsuit.

It also depends on the age of the "last activity" on the credit card. Each state has a statute of limitations on collections, anywhere from 4-7 years. If the statute has expired since your last activity, the amount is no longer collectible by the company, tho it will remain on your CR for 7 years. Word of warning: If you want to pay it off, get a letter from the creditor first stating that they will remove the trade line "charged off". If they don't, your payment is new activity, and the negative credit, tho reflecting "paid", will remain for an additional 7 years.

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I agree with the prior answer noting the 4 & 7 year statutes I work in the pre-legal department of a collection agency.From the last activity it will remain on the report for 7 years ,so if it was here for 6 years and you decided to make a payment your 7 years of credit reporting starts all over again.There is a 4 year statute of limitations for suit, after 4 years from last activity a creditor can call you all day long but they can use no other means ie a law suit for judgments for a wage garnishments or property leins to recover the debt.