by rickstarr » Tue Nov 03, 2009 01:36:56 PM
3527069Mb,
Your credit should not be affected by anything that happened 10+ years ago. You should order copies of your both your Equifax and Transunion reports and see what is reporting negatively there.
Paying anything to old debts that have past their statute of limitations raises the possibility of the "expired" debt being reactivated, thus hurting your credit more than simply not doing anything at all. You are better off letting sleeping dogs lie, as long as you don't plan on using that particular creditor again. (Although I'm confident that they may still lend to you if the debts really are that old.)
If your credit is poor now, it will have nothing to do with mistakes made 10 years ago. As Janet mentioned, fix the items that have occurred more recently and you will see your credit get better. Hope this helps!