you would hope that would be the case, but unfortunately it doesn't generally work out that way. When you pay off an old debt, the negative item on your credit report won't be totally removed or just disappear. These items are typically listed as a delinquency that has been paid off, a charge-off, or a collections item. If you really want to fully repair your credit, unfortunately just paying off your debts won't do the job. Repairing bad credit is time consuming, difficult, and a major undertaking for most people.