rabidhunter

creditcards.com is a great place to shop around for a credit card.  They have a place that you can enter in your information and it will provide credit card offers you are most likely to be accepted for.  Plus you can compare apples to apples, see the APR, the Annual Fee, and such together. 

If you have okay credit, I wouldn't recommend getting a secured card.  First, you need money up front to be put in a special savings account to be used as collateral.  The usual deposit is around $100 to $500 minimum.  How much money you put in determines your credit limit.  Often you'll get stuck with huge fees with those types of cards.

If you do get a credit card, go to creditcards.com.  They have a place you can just stick in your information and it will bring up several credit cards you are likely to be accepted.  You can compare the terms, APR's and such.  See if one of the cards will raise your credit limit after a period of time.  Capital One does this.  That really has helped out my credit score.  I try to keep a low balance in it, they raise the limit and boom... My credit utilization dropped big time, which also raised my score by 20 points.

If you don't want a credit card, go to your bank and see if they can do a small personal loan, that will improve your score.  Some banks will do a stock loan, they might put $1,000 in a CD for you.  Then you pay monthly installments on the loan.  After a year when the loan is paid off, the money is yours.

Unfortunately goals like buying a car or buying a house require credit.  Personal loans and credit cards can be good tools to get good credit, if used wisely.

Just don't go crazy applying for every credit card offer.  Whenever you apply for credit, it creates an inquiry which negatively affects your credit score and sticks around for two years on your report.

Creditcards.com has a tool that lets you compair credit card offers.  They have a card match feature where you enter your basic info and SSN which will pull several cards that you are likely be accepted for.  Note that you are not guaranteed the credit card.  However, you have the ability to search and evaluate APR's, rewards, intro rates, etc... to see which card is worth your application.

Remember that each application could result in a hard inquiry. 

Have you pulled your credit report from annualcreditreport.com?  By government requirments, you are entitled to a copy of your report once a year.  Check for innaccuracies.  That's good start.

Nan's right, you're going to want to get those credit cards paid down and paid off.  It will have a more positive outcome. 

Don't go for Orchard Bank unless you have to, they have high APR's and hidden fees on a lot of their cards.

Try www.creditcards.com  You can do a side by side credit card comparison.  You can also do a card match.  You just type in your name, address, and SSN and they will pull credit cards you are most likely to get accepted by.  You can even complete the offers online.  That should help a lot. 

 Have you received any credit card offers in the mail?  That's how I got my credit card, it was one of those, "you've been selected" offers from Capital One.

Otherwise, there's creditcards.com which will match you with credit card's you're most likeley to get accepted for.  Problem is that you might get hit with another hard inquiry if you apply.

Otherwise, try going to your bank and taking out a personal loan.  Put the money into your account and make the regular payments.  That would increase your chances of getting a credit card.

I'm sorry I read that wrong, they were deleted off of your account already, that's a great start.  Having negative history removed will raise your score.

Having a credit card will raise your score.  Be careful in applying, try creditcard.com, they have a feature that matches you with cards you most likely will be acccepted for.

If you do get accepted, make sure you keep that balance low.  Pay it off every month if you can.

Depends, have you settled the collection accounts?  Negative credit history can stay on your record for up to 7 years.  If you have not settled the collections accounts, try do have them settled and make sure you ask to have them remove the account from your credit history after it's settled.

What you'll want to do is write a letter to them (make sure you maintain the copy) and send the letter certified mail.  There are some websites that help you write these letters, do a google search.

Otherwise, the only other thing that will improve your credit score is time.  The longer you keep on time payments; the higher your score will go.

Vendejp is right, be very careful about them.  It's not that they are bad, but they do carry a lot of hidden fees.  You will need to have money up front to get a secured card.  Your credit limit is set by the amount of money you set aside in that bank's savings account.  Many banks offer a secured card starting at a minimum of $100 but several banks require a minimum of up to $500.

On top of that, there may be application fees and an annual fee that you pay up front.  Unless you have that money set aside to make a the required deposit into a savings account and pay the fees, it won't be worth trying to apply.

If you do apply for a secured card, look for the cards that can turn into an unsecured card after a certain amount of time and will increase your credit limit.  These will be the most helpful.

Having a credit card does help greatly, because of the way things are weighted.  The problem is that the mortgage is an installment  loan.  Having a revolving account like a credit card will shoot your score higher.

I started with a 620 here.  I got a Cap.1 card with a $500 limit.  That shot my score up around 20 points almost the moment I got it.  The good thing is that they will increase your limit after three months of on time payments.  They increased my limit to $750 and that shot my score up another 15 points.  Now they just increased my limit to $1,750 which will increase my score again.

The trick with this is, be very carefull applying for credit cards because it will increase hard inquiries on your record and decrease your score big time.

Also, you will need to use your credit card.  You do not want max out your card unless you can pay it off.  You're better off using a credit card on small purchases and paying it off.

It wouldn't hurt.  But rather than call, send a certified letter for the request.  Paying the extra postage for certification will show that you are serious about getting it removed.

Also, make sure you copy your letter.  That way you have a record of everything.

 Time heals most wounds, as they say.  Patience is one of the most important things with credit score improvement.  It does not happen overnight, by any means.  You have to show a long history of positive payments.  Getting a credit card will help, but applying for several credit cards will hurt you.

The trick is to be smart, if you cannot get an unsecured credit card, be prepaired to pay up and go for a secured credit card.  Oddly enough, getting a credit card will boost your credit score a lot.

But do not go overboard with credit.  One thing they look out is the average life of your open accounts.  New accounts will botch this up.  For example, if you have been paying your mortgage on time for fifteen years and you decide you need another credit card, your average span of open trade lines drops to 7.5.

CK has helped me track my score and gave me a little hope.  It's great to see that my score has gone up +30 points.  I'm still not where I want to be, but by paying off debt, I will be up there.  Just takes time. 

Got an offer in the mail, approved with a score of 639. Hopefully this will help me raise my score and get into a better card. Don't know my limit yet.