What does Settlement mean?

Credit settlements are generally so called agreements upon the owed amounts, where the creditor may accept a proposal of reducing from your debt (reducing the interest owed for example). Settlements in a more general sense and pertaining to credit card related terminology are the actual transactions that take place between merchants, between merchants and cardholders, or between merchants and wholesalers and so on. Part of a settlement is always the issuer (banking institution) as well.