I would research what others have done with those companies. I wouldn't just leave them. They will really hold your score back. Are they still young enough where you could be sued for them?
Some options:
if something, even if it's little is incorrect, fight via dispute or through the BBB. Check everything they have and make sure it's correct. If they mistakenly billed you instead of VA that should be reason enough to file with the BBB or dispute ect. Another option for medical debt is to Google "hippa process", and then find someone to help you through that. Sending out the first hippa letter usually can get transunion to drop the collection, probably not EQ one EX. But The best thing you can do is try to negotiate a pay for delete. You can search on here if others have had success with those companies, or try to contact a CEO or manager at the collection company.
Just paying it will probably not help your score on the regular Fico model, unless on manual review or maybe when asking for a recon. I think there are few banks using Fico 9 though now.
Having a loan paid down will help thicken your file, but I'd try to do whatever you can to remove the collections...even if it's paying them and then a goodwill letter to delete to a higher up.
