First off, I owe a GREAT deal to this board for what I was able to do. I can't stress enough that everything I outline below is what happened to work for me and the best approach anyone can take is lurking here for a month or two ferociously reading anything and everything whether it pertains directly to you or not. Just absorb all the disucssions here.
That said, I went from a low of 501 a little less than a year ago (yikes..I cringe thinking back to it) to 718 as of a few days ago. The details of how I did so can be found here, but I do think it's worth outlining some of the broader things I think were of help.
- My biggest lesson was that patience is key. If you look at my main thread you'll actually see I started the journey almost two years ago, and in that first year actually took my score down. It was because of my impatience. I was like an overweight, sedentary person deciding to work out but jumping right into hardcore crossfit, P90X, etc when I really should have been starting with a more deliberate approach. After failing the first time, I reloaded and came at it all from a much more measured perspective, hitting one thing at a time very methodically. It's a slow, slow process and I think most people find these boards in some kind of emergency needing a quick boost. There are certainly quick boosts to be had, but slow and steady wins this race long term.
- I'm not an organized person. I think a lot of us land here because we can be a bit disorganized and that's part of what got us into credit trouble in the first place. To tackle this you simply must be organized. People have recommended binders, project plans, file folders, etc. I don't think the medium is as important as the fact that you find some vehicle for tight, button-downed organization. For me I ultimately ended up scanning all hard copies and keeping a file on my computer. I took notes in Evernote and tracked my actual deliverables in SG Project (like MS project but for the mac). I gave myself deadlines for follow up and the like. I don't see how someone can successfully navigate this kind of endeavor without that kind of organization.
- I firmly believe you need a motivator. For me it was having kids. As a single guy I didn't really care that my credit was miserable. It didn't impact me in any material way. But with kids I had a real reason to shore it up so they could one day have a permanent home of their home. If you're here, I'm guessing you have one beyond "improving my credit." There has to be a reason for wanting that improvement and focusing on that (at least for me) was more helpful than just focusing in on the score itself.
- Leverage your strengths. Some people thrive on intense confronation and others are diplomatic. I tend towards the latter, so most of my attempts were of the goodwill variety versus the validate/challenge approach. But for someone else goodwill may not be their strong suit and brining out the big confrontation guns is what works. Similarly, one of my "strengths" looking at myself as a cog in the credit/finance machine was that I now make very good money - I leveraged that in many of my communications.
I'm sure i'm missing some things, but I thought it might be helpful for someone to see this. I know seeing similar things when I started out was very helpful.
Starting Score: 578 (3/11/13)
Fantastic work, great job,grats to your continued success 
Way to go!!! And I totally agree with you, you must have a plan as I have different color file folders for each CRA and one for misc information that I find on the Internet. I also have a spiral notebook where I take notes from MyFico and write down my plan for the month what accounts I am going to tackle and when do I plan to have the goal accomplished. Life does happens and sometimes things don't always go according to plan however I choose to not give up and get this thing corrected once and for all!
I have learned so much and I am paying it forward by telling my family and friends about this site and the wealth of knowledge to be learned!
Kudos to you and your success!!!
congrats
July 2013 score: EQ FICO 819, TU08 778, EX "806 lender pull 07/26/2013
Goal Score: All Scores 760+, Newest goal 800+
Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Current scores after adding $81K in CLs and 2 new cars since July 2013
EQ:809 TU 777 EX 790 Now it's just garden time!
June 2017 update: All scores over 820, just pure gardening now.
That is awesome to see! Congrats!
Congratulations!
Slow and steady wins the race
Current Score: TU: 674 | EQ: 722 | EX: 717 | Last Inq. 2/16/15...Locked Up in The Garden