futurehomeowner?

My wife has a Merrick Card that started last year at $500, in six months in went to $1000 then 4 months later it went to $1400

Hello all. I have read so many posts on this board that I am starting to get overwhelmed so I decided to just start a thread. I appologize in advance if these are all questions that have been talked about a million times. My wife and I want to buy a house this time next year so we are trying to improve our credit. My credit is a complete mess because of a business that I used to own so right now we are just working on my wife's. We just pulled her scores with myfico.com. Her TU is 626 and her Equifax is 669. Her reports are pretty much the same. 2- inquiries in last 12 months she has AES student loans that are all current, they were 30 days late 1 time in 2008 2 past credit cards that were paid after they went to collections 1 auto loan paid and never late Her current credit is as follows Merrick card with 1400 limit, 800 available (2 years old, never late) Best Buy card with 600 limit, 200 available (1 month old, never late) Kay Jewelery card with 8000 limit, 7900 available (4 years old, never late) Lane Bryant card with 700 limit, 500 available (3 years old, never late) she has a 28k AES student loans that are all current, they were 30 days late 1 time in 2008 HSBC card that was sent to collections for $1500. They currently have sold it to Midland and they have it listed as $1800. This card was opened in 2006 and went to collections in 2009. Citibank card that was sent to collections for $1800. They sold it to Midland who then sued her and we were dumb and didnt fight it so there is a judgement for $2100 from 2010. So now I come here for some help and questions. I was actually surprised to see her equifax at 669. I thought they would both be closer to 600. What would you experts suggest that we do to get this fixed. Would it be as simple as just paying the judgement and settleing with the other card. Right now we have an offer till the end of the month to settle the $1800 for $1300. After reading all of the messages on here I am seeing that people say when you settle with a CA it actually lowers your score and not improve it. I don't understand why paying something off would actually hurt you in the short term. Is there anything that I can do with a judgement to get a lower amount from Midland? and will they remove the judgement when it is paid off? Lastly, would it be advisable to go to our bank and open a secured 12 month loan, would that boost her credit score? Thanks in advance for any help you can give us.

I have been browsing this board for a short while now and reading this story really makes me want to get my credit fixed ASAP. Congrats on the new found credit.