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Hi, I'm a Newbie and this site was reco'd by my BF bc I need to work on my credit. I wrote down my credit score goal as 750. I was told once, if it's written its real. That kept me on top of goals in life and has been a successful tool in my life thus far. It's pretty much a twist on a vision board. Anywho, with all that said, I would love opinions and recos on what, how, and when I should do certain things to reach this goal. I have read difft posts, but there is so much info that helps, but also pushes me one more step away from achieving my goal bc I just don't understand certain things mentioned. Here's what I'm working with: When I was younger, I did what most recent grads did to ruin their credit-- I applied and was approved for every cc and store card I could possibly get. I rem counting it to be approx 11 cards. I was under the impression that this gave me credit history and would help build my credit. I obviously maxed them all out, made late payments and eventually stopped paying on them. Probly brought my CS to high 400s, low 500s In 2009/2010, I was able to pay them all off giving myself $0 debt. Once again thinking, if I have zero debt my CS will be better. Mistakes doing that involved paying charged off accts, settling accts and speaking to CAs that bullied and talked me into handling things their way or no way, which now I know...wrong thing to do. I fig'd that by time I finish my advanced degree (2009-2013), my credit would get better esp if I stayed away fr CCs. The only time my CR was touched were inquiries for car loan leases in between that time. Finally my most recent car lease inquiry in 6/2013 revealed EQ beacon 611, EX FICO 641, TU FICO 681. This is where I am stuck on what to do. I pulled EX CR that says 8 potentially negative items. These include CCs and store cards that had late payments and closed per CGR, 2 late payments on car note ( which I think only one is valid), and late payments on 2 store cards that I still have open and am able to use ( which I do on one of them, currently at less than 10% UR bc they gave a CLI out of nowhere) I joined CK, score has been at 648 the whole time since i joined abt 6 moths ago, just joined Credit sesame, which my score is 641. I have my advanced degree student loans which are roughly abt $200,000+ (Yikes), the low balance store card, and car loan as my debt. I have 4 hard inquiries, which were made by the same car loan companies (2 in June 2013, then 2 again in Sept 2013), car actually purchased in Sept 2013. I NEED HELP at this point!! I searched CB for what my next steps should be to increase my credit score, but too many options, I just don't know which is best for my situation. I was thinking to get a secured card and/or sign up for a credit card, but I really just don't know what to do! HELP ME PLEASE! I've seen the wonderful advice given by the community and hope that I can receive the same. Thx in advance to all PS I thought I had one negative item falling off of my acct last year, but it seems to have showed up under a different company name, but same acct number. And I will have about 2-3 items falling off by the end of next year. Tx again

Hello, I'm new to the boards and have been reading as much as I can. Long story short, few years ago I got a few lines of credit; ie retail stores/credit cards. Spent more than I took home, and got into debt. Got lost along the way and stopped paying due to poor money management and stupidity. I have a total of $8083 dollars in unsecured debt between credit cards, $2671 of the debt is student loans. I know the accounts are charge-off's, and in collections. I'm finally able to manage my money and budget. Who would have guessed? I have approximately $900 left over a month and getting a part-time job due to wanting to obtain as much income as possible to get out of debt as quickly as possible. How do I find out which collections agencies have bought my debt? A few still call, and I'm still reading how exactly to speak to them in order to cover myself. I been looking into debt management programs due it seeming easiest on paper; pay them and they spread the money around to the CA's. I know not all things are what they appear to be, but I really don't know how to start tackling. All I can do is start taking baby steps. I know I got myself in this situation and do not blame anyone else. I am taking responsibility for my actions, want to pay back all my debt, and rebuild my credit for my family's sake. I am realizing how valuable these boards are in regards to the abundance of information. I thank everyone who contributes their knowledge to help others. I am a Law Enforcement Officer and know helping others is difficult sometimes. Thanks in advance for any guidance. Be safe out there...