Nope! In fact, paying them off without a PFD could drop your score. The DOLA and/or reported date will change to this month (assuming they would report) and FICO would see that as a recent collection and lower the score. On a whole, it doesn't matter if you owe $0 or $10,000, the damage to your score is equal.
Taking any action will take time. If these are medical collections, then you could speed up the process a little. Check out the "Medical Debt" board and follow the HIPAA process exactly.
If these are non-medical debts, then I'd have to advise you that if you have the $$$ to PIF or SOL has expired, then you'd send a DV letter to the CA. Once they respond, then send a PFD to offer a settlement or to offer to PIF and if they agree to that PFD, then you'd pay and they'd delete. But this will take some time. Maybe you can expedite things via e-mail or fax, but I'd never recommend that.
You could try to go for broke and offer a PFD without the DV, but they don't have to respond and it would be a whole lot harder to get them to go away in the future.
Whatever you do, don't dispute. I've been reading that some lenders don't like to see accounts under dispute during the loan process and disputing takes 30-45 days. Not only that, but items could get verified and that'll drop your score a little, depending on how they are reporting now.
There are other ways to bump your scores too. Pay all CCs to $0 and leave one with a balance of a few dollars. That's the fastest way to increase your scores. If you have any CC COs, that are reporting a balance, then paying them to $1 (yes $1) will really boost your scores. Once the report $0, then they are no longer factored into utilization.
