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Will paying old collections help my score?

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guiness56
Epic Contributor

Re: Will paying old collections help my score?


@Anonymous wrote:

My husband and I are trying to buy a house and we need to raise his scores about 50 points to get this done.  I have the money to pay off all of our old collections.  There are 10 collections, all over 2 years old with an aggregate balance of around $2500 total.   If I pay these off, will it raise his scores at all?  I've read where it can actually hurt his scores.  Any advice is greatly appreciated.


Paying off a third party CA will not improve your score.  Paid or unpaid they are looked at the same by FICO.  Paying off a collection should never hurt your score either.

 

The best thing would to have them completely removed.

 

Are the OCs also reporting on your CR for the corresponding collections?

Message 11 of 12
Shogun
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Will paying old collections help my score?

+1  It will look better on a manual review, but like guiness says, FICO doesn't factor in paid vs unpaid.  Try for PFDs, if no go, pay/settle then GW them.

Starting Score: 504
July 2013 score:
EQ FICO 819, TU08 778, EX "806 lender pull 07/26/2013
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Current scores after adding $81K in CLs and 2 new cars since July 2013
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Message 12 of 12
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