The effect on a credit score of paying a collection account

Fair Isaac states, "At myFICO we always recommend paying off your legitimate debts, and paying off old collections won't hurt your FICO score."

The Wikipedia.com article about TransUnion links to CreditScoreResource.com.

On a social media network, CreditScoreResource.com shared an item from Credit.com.

Will a #debt collector see my credit score? http://t.co/sKNyxKlc55 via @cdigang
— Credit.com Experts (@CreditExperts) March 4, 2014

In its associated article, "Can a Debt Collector See My Credit Score?," Credit.com quotes one of its own experts who is also founder of the Consumer Recovery Network.

Contrary to the Fair Isaac information above, the Consumer Recovery Network website states, "As soon as there is a freshness to the collection item, as will occur when the collection is paid or settled and showing now zero owed, your credit score will take a dip."

@debtbytes, what evidence do you have to #prove that paying #collection accounts lowers credit scores? http://t.co/LY4Y6uSYE2 #efficacy
— Greg Fisher (@creditscoring) March 5, 2014