If the creditor is still reporting a balance on the account, then they apparently have only assigned collection authority to the debt collector, and have not sold it to them.
Thus, if you pay, regardless of whether your payment is made to the debt collector or to the creditor, it is being made to the creditor, with the debt collector only being an agent in the process of collecting. As to the extent to which the creditor will continue to hold a prior delinquency against the consumer, it is more likely to be "forgiven" if paid than if stiffed.
If paid after they sell the debt to a debt collector, then the creditor does not get a red cent of any subsequent payment amount. It goes totally to the purchasing debt collector.
Thus, paying before they sell the debt can result in less (or no) loss by the creditor, while paying after it is sold will result in no offset of loss by the creditor.
If you do pay, I would suggest doing so by way of first making a pay for not reporting offer to the debt collector.
While the debt collector will likely never report after you pay the debt, they are not legally precluded from doing so, and a pay for not reporting agreement will ensure that they cannot report.
Paying the debt collector will not require the creditor to delete any reporting.
It will only require the creditor to update the status to paid or paid/settled for less, and to update the current balance to $0.
