About a month ago, I reached out to the only collections I had reporting (only reported with EQ, no others). They refused to do a PFD, and so I just paid it off so that it would start aging off my report. The account updated yesterday to reflect paid in full and closed - and I saw a 21 point boost in my score with EQ! I didn't think it would have any impact unless it was removed, so I'm celebrating this small win!
Now just waiting for 2 CC's to report out in a few days - this will drop my credit utilization from 55% down to ~3% with AZEO. Fingers crossed that I see a nice bump from that, as well! 
@ZiggyMRA wrote:About a month ago, I reached out to the only collections I had reporting (only reported with EQ, no others). They refused to do a PFD, and so I just paid it off so that it would start aging off my report. The account updated yesterday to reflect paid in full and closed - and I saw a 21 point boost in my score with EQ! I didn't think it would have any impact unless it was removed, so I'm celebrating this small win!
Now just waiting for 2 CC's to report out in a few days - this will drop my credit utilization from 55% down to ~3% with AZEO. Fingers crossed that I see a nice bump from that, as well!
Which score model did you see this increase on? A paid collection offers no immediate score increase to FICO 8 (or earlier) models. If it was VantageScore or FICO 9, they both ignore paid collections, and that's why you saw a score increase. Either way, congrats!
@ZiggyMRA wrote:It was through Credit Karma, so VantageScore 3.0.
Yeppers. VantageScore 3.0 (and FICO 9) models ingnore paid collections, so you can see a nice score increase from a collection reporting paid with a $0 balance especially if it was your last collection. On FICO 8 (and earlier) models, the collection will now start to age and affect your scores less over time until it dies it's slow death 7 years from (DoFD). It sucks they wouldn't PFD for you, but congrats on getting it behind you!
@Anonymous wrote:With FICO 9 & VS "ignoring" paid collections, does that mean even though it's on the report, it has no impact on the score? In contrast, FICO 8, will still consider a $0 collection account as a derog which will hold down the score; less & less as it ages.
Is there a point in time were the paid CA has no impact on the score (F8), e.g. after 2 years? I've read around here that this is the case for any lates, or at least something to that affect. I have a CA reporting on all 3 from a lease I broke in 2017 (hit CA 2018) that I paid off in 12/2019. Is this still affecting my score?
Yes, for FICO 9 and VantageScore, a paid collection no longer affects your score. The models simply ignore it for scoring purposes. There is some debate on FICO 9 if the model ignores a 'settled' collection or just one that is 'paid in full'. I don't know how the algorithm would know the difference. I have to assume that a collection with a $0 balance is ignored for scoring purposes by both VS and FICO 9. If anyone has another data point on this, I'd sure love to know.
As for FICO 8 (and earlier models), a paid collection ages like any other paid negative tradeline. It begins to age once the balance is reported to $0 and monthly reporting stops, and loses some of it's effect on your scores the more it ages. They still affect your scores to some degree until they completely age off at 7 years from the DoFD, but no one can tell you exactly how many points they're costing you at any one time. They also keep you on a dirty scorecard like any other negative tradeline does as long as they're present on your reports. When all baddies, paid or unpaid, are removed is when you get reassignment to a clean scorecard.