You may be unknowingly hurting your credit score by paying off your old charge-offs

Credit Question Again: I have credit cards that have been “charged-off” and therefore closed. I have no more cards. I’m trying to get everything paid off, even the charged-off ones, but I guess this ruins my longevity part of the score. The accounts show as closed by issuer.

Is this correct?

Carolyn Warren: You may be unknowingly hurting your credit score by paying off your old charge-offs. There are several factors here, including how old they are. But if you update a 5-year old collection by paying on it, your score will go down!

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