Collections Account

[Anonymous]

I have a 4 year old collections account on my report.  Should I pay it off or leave it alone?  I've read some advice on leaving it alone and let the 7 years expire.  This doesn't make sense to me.  I would like to increase my score by paying it but don't need any dropping of my score.  What do you think?

[Anonymous]

Your score will not increase by payng the debt off. The Fico still calculates your risk based on that past payment history.  Unless you can pay for deletion.  Don't make the offer unless you have cash in the bank to back it up and get anything you're promised in writing.  Pay afterwards.  That being said you could just let it fall off and hope that zombie debt is inserted and reinserted for years to come causing you endless disputes and headaches down the line.

[Anonymous]

The bottom line is you are hosed no matter what you do as soon as any collection or charge-off gets onto your credit report.

Paying it off does no good, as the FICO scoring system is utterly indifferent to anything GOOD you do for your credit, including paying a charge-off or collection account. And the collection agencies being the crooks they are, half the time they take your money and don't even update your credit report. Expect to spend months if not years chasing them down, mailing copies of canceled checks and whatnot hither, thither and yon, and riding herd on all three credit bureaus. Then wait another three to six months to actually have anything on your credit report change.

And did I mention FICO STILL won't give a hoot?

My advice is to just keep your money and not bother with your credit score. FICO is up there with global warming and international terrorism as another negative of modern life you can't do anything about anyway.