Delete Tradeline or Not?

Help! I'm a little unsure what to do. I'm settling with my mortgage lenders and have an opportunity to delete the tradelines. However, their attorney was saying that it may be better for my credit score to have the tradeline go into a "paid" state (even if there's a history of 180 late payments) than have it deleted. Is this true? Also, on my primary mortgage, it also says 180 late--should I try to get that tradeline wiped and just start fresh? (Both lenders have mortgage about 6 years old.)

I'm not sure whether to pursue deleting tradelines or not and am getting a little worried!