about how many points will my credit score be raised by paying back this debt?

First answer is by you paying the debt your score will rise a little. As to how long would be determined by how long it takes the creditor to report the debt has having been paid.

As to the benefits of having a good score, this affects many aspects. Your score determines your insurance rates, it could affect any future employment and it also determines how much interest you pay for any credit.

So the higher the score the lower you pay.

Read the link I have listed as my source, you will learn from FICO what is important.

As to how they calculate ones credit score here is the formula, but as you can see, who can really figure it out. I shall quote this from FACTA

FACTA defines a "credit score" as:

A numerical value or categorization derived from a statistical tool or modeling system used by a person who makes or arranges a loan to predict the likelihood of certain credit behaviors, including default (and the numerical value or the categorization derived from such analysis may also be referred to as a "risk predictor" or "risk score" (FCRA §609(f)(2))

Hope this helps answer your question.

A good credit score is very important, since it gives you options. You may not need it today, but when you do, as you will see, it is not easy to raise it quickly.

It's very difficult to say how much your score will rise. Certainly, a long term bad debt is dragging you down. One quick way of looking at it is to consider how much your numbers have dropped since you became delinquent on the debt. The credit bureaus do NOT publish their scoring systems, to prevent people from tailoring their affairs to tweak the numbers.

One thing is for certain: the bad debt is lowering your score, paying it off will allow the score to rise. Anything beyond that is a guess.

If this is a defaulted debt that is in collections, paying it off will not raise your score at all. The damage is already done and it will take the balance of the 7 year reporting period to remove this negative item, whether paid of not.

However, creditors look at more than just your score. They look at your whole credit report. Paid old debt always looks better than unpaid.

You will need at least 24 months of consistent, on time payment history to improve your score. It takes a long time to fix negatives.

Your score will not go up at all by paying but it will be labeled paid as opposed to unpaid if you ever need a home loan in the next couple of years.

I think your score will go up 10 points apx 14 days after you pay off the debt. No one really knows because Fair Isaac Company (FICO) does not tell us their formula..