Credit Advice

You technically still owe them until the are charged off. You are probably responsible from them until the statue of limitations expires.  As for your credit, you should always pay them if you care about improving your score. 

Go online and search "pay to delete debt form". There are some pretty good forms that you can use if  it has gone to collections. It pretty much says that you are not admitting the debt but you will pay a certain amount ( i.e. 25% of the debt and that you have written a check) by agreeing to cash the check they will accept the debt as paid and will REMOVE IT from your credit report. You MUST request this! If they cash the check for the smaller amount then they must do as agreed. If not, you are back where you started but at least it is a shot. Just paying off a collection account will not remove it from your report and rarely does it ever help your score, at least in my case.

You should also be aware that if you settle the debt for less than the full amount owed, this fact will appear on your credit report, and will affect your score. Only a dishonest lender (and there are fewer of these than you might think) will delete something from your credit report unless it is truly in error.

Depends on the state in CA unsecured debt have 4 years to sue or they lost the right, it will stay on  your credit but it is uncollectable. Also different type of debt have diferent limits here's a st by st breakdown http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/SOL-by-State.html

You borrowed the money you should pay it back.  If someone borrowed money from you five years ago would you want to be paid?