OK, lets get some truth in this thread.
First, it is not true that a paid collection account is better for your credit than an unpaid one. Many lenders look more at the last couple years of your credit than they do the older stuff. A paid collection is still a collection, and paid or unpaid makes no difference when it comes to your credit score. Actually, in some cases, it is better for your credit to NOT pay an old collection account because recent activity on a collection account will stand out.
Second, if it's been since 2006, then more than likely the debts were charged off and sold. It's possible that some of these may be beyond the statute of limitations for your state. And, there are two statutes of limitation at work here--one deals with the time that debt collectors have in which to take legal action against you, and the other deals with how long a debt can be reported on your credit report. What you need to do is determine exactly when these debts first became delinquent. Federal law allows that a debt can be reported for 7.5 years total from the date it first went delinquent. As long as you never caught it up in that time, it doesnt matter if you made a payment since it went past due--if you are delinquent by $1000 and you paid $100, then that delinquency is still there. So while making a payment could affect the collection SOL it cannot affect the reporting SOL unless you pay enough that the delinquency goes away. When exactly did you become delinquent on these accounts? Thats the info you need. It is possible that some of these should already have been removed from your credit reports.
Keep in mind, I am not advocating that you do not pay your bills. I just want you to know what to expect in the process. If you legitimately owe a bill and a debt collector proves that you owe it to them, then you should pay it.
One other thing that you can do is try to negotiate a pay for delete. A lot of places do not want to do this, but it doesnt hurt to try. A good way to do this may be for you to examine the reports on your credit. Often, debt collectors make mistakes in their reporting. If you can prove that they have made mistakes, either in the way they report or the way they try to collect a debt, it can give you leverage. For example, a debt collector could violate the FDCPA in their collection efforts. In such a case, I may send them a letter detailing their violations. I may give them an option--I can make an offer to pay for delete, in which they remove the entry from my credit reports and agree not to report it again. Or, with the violations they have racked up, I can take them to court and sue them.....in which case they would have to pay me for their violations and they stand a chance of never being able to collect on the debt again. Keep in mind that this will not work with all debt collectors, some of them will try to accuse you of extortion, etc etc etc. But here's the thing--you are not breaking the law in making such an offer. The key here is to be able to prove the violations. If you cannot, then you are wasting your time.
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