its not the paid debt that will hurt you, its the fact that it went delinquent in the first place...obviously paid debt > unpaid debt...but it varies lender to lender, your more recent history, etc, etc. its not like an automatic yes or no as to if you're going to get a loan or not. if you have a lot of tradelines and one or two negative marks from 4-5 years ago, you probably wont have as much of an issue as someone who has 2 negative marks and maybe 6 trade lines. plus, with credit markets somewhat drying up, and it being harder to get credit right now, it may be a little harder.
but ask your creditors to fax you verification. most will tell you they can't (like i do, because its a hassle and im not making money off you unless you're paying me...lol), but if you stress it enough they can usually fax it.
the bureaus though, i dont know if they can do fax. im sure they can, but dont quote me.