If you pay off bills that have already been put on your credit report does it really help your credit score??

Say for example I have 12 unpaid accounts on my credit report. If I called and paid off six of them today would that help my score go up when they reported that I had paid these old accounts off. Some of them have been on my report for a couple of years already.

Public Comments

1. Paying off most of your accounts would certainly help. One acct is all that is needed to show that you're a good credit risk & it is best not to max it out. If you've been late on paying your bills or haven't paid some at all, your poor credit rating will be with you for years.
2. Bad credit or defaults as they call it stays in your credit file for atleast 7yrs but some credit provider would provide credit if the default has been paid off for 5yrs atleast. Your score points would not count really if you have a bad default in your credit file because this is one of them points!
3. yes, it takes time like a year or so to see any changes