Credit Repair Plan - Finally Getting My Butt in Gear

[AbsentMindedProfessor]

I won't bore anyone with the details just yet (though happy to provide any if requested), but suffice it to say I've committed just about every major credit mistake someone can make in their youth (now 33).  It basically went in X phases:

1. Early on, I thought having a credit card or any kind of loan was a bad thing.  It was cash for everything.
2. When I finally did bite the bullet, it was for grad school loans.  I was probably 25 before I had any kind of CC or debt (and thus, credit history).
3. When I did finally open a CC the one thing I did right was use it sparingly and have payments auto deducted.  This was the one good phase of my history (until now of course).
4. Upon graduation, I moved a LOT chasing different jobs.  As my moniker might indicate, i have a personality type that's very absent minded and "out of sight/out of mind."  This foolishly caused me to start missing payments once bank accounts changed and it became a "hassle" for me (I take full responsibility for how stupid this was on every front) to make a payment.  Back then, I'd rather be late with a payment than order new checks, having no idea how much it was hurting me.  
5. I had a disaster year on the personal front that a responsible person would not have allowed to impact finances.  I used it as an excuse to do so.  That was six years ago.  But long story short my student loans defaulted.  They were rehabbed immediately and I haven't missed a payment or been even a day late in 5 years.  

My score hit a low of 490 last June and basically stayed there until this January, when for the first time ever I checked my credit score (the freecreditreport.com tool the historical).  Fortunately, from January 3rd or so until today I've got myself up to a 626, which I'm fairly proud of.  I did this by challenging a few things that shouldn't have been on there based on what I could tell (i.e., the student loan account was showing as still in collections - and clearly had been for the past five years) and paying off all my credit card balances down to the zero level.  

That leaves me with some work to do, and this is what I've basically outlined.  I would appreciate any insight/feedback. 

• Every bill I have is now on full autopay.  I assume by taking advantage of the technologically marvelous world in which we live I'll never have another late.  I assume a move forward of no late payments will be a slow but steady help.
• I show as having a high number of installment accounts.  Each of my loans from each year of grad school shows as a separate and distinct installment account, despite the fact that I pay them in one auto payment.  I paid off the lowest balance one to get it off the books (it still doesn't show, so I assume I'll get some small bump from that), but the company says they can not show them as only one loan despite taking only one payment from me...so I'll likely have to eat this one for a while.  
• My wife has excellent credit and numerous high limit cards.  Well, not stratospheric, but 30,000 limits.  She carries relatively low balances (never more than 10% of the limit).  Our assumption is that adding me as an authorized user and/or joint account holder will help me with the average age of accounts and available credit.  My concern is that it could backfire and once I'm on there her limits will get axed and her score will go down.
• I have a 112 dollar collections account on my credit report from 4 years ago.  Sadly, I have no idea if it's legitimate or not and I'm trying to figure that out.  If it's not, great, but if it is I'm trying to figure out a plan of attack.  Given that it's easy to pay off in full, I want to try to pay it off in a "pay for deletion" type scenario that I've read about, but I have no real idea how legitimate that may be.
• I have a series of lates going back over the past 2 years.  Oddly, I've been in really good standing for the past year (secured solid employment and paid everything on time) so there's some hope for goodwill adjustments, but I'm not holding my breath.  

Any other thoughts or advice?  I'm definitely glad I came upon this forum - it's full of useful information.

[chasmith]

Is the 626 a FICO score?  It would help if you list the "factors influencing your score" in order.

You mention you paid off your "credit card balances".  If you have two or three cards, preferably "bank cards", keep utilization under 10% and allow "less than half" of the cards to report balances (but rotate which ones report) you'll get the maximum score boost.  If you don't need to carry balances there's probably no benefit to being an AU on DWs cards.

I'm fortunate in that I never had SLs.  Is it possible to consoilidate your several loans, not through the original lender but the consolidation process?

You could certainly contact the creditor for the $112 and offer a PFD.  It may be worth paying even if they won't delete, although if it's four years old the underlying default might be older and approaching the seven years plkus 180 days wgere it has to fall off (CRTP).

How bad are the lates over the past two years.  30/60 day lates have very little impact after two years.

You're starting on the right course, saty with GW letters to see if you can get lates removed.  try asking for "reaging" of your open accounts - that's where the creditor resets all the lates.