I'm in a similar boat as you, all my federal student loans are paid but I have a private in default that they sold to a collection agency and private loans don't re-hab (AES). If you have federal loans, I suggest you rehab them. My loan officer said the only thing standing between me and the house I want is the private loan in collection and the FICO score (which can be improved if I had open cc's). Through this forum I've gotten most collections deleted. I'm having my pre-paid legal helping me with this one as it's a 19K debt originaly, now $30K with fees. He said I need either 12 months of positive payment history or it paid/settled.
They are right about the card, pay it off and GW them to death 
Also, make your GW's personal with life issues you've been having.
Starting Score: 492-TU04, 480-EX FICO V2, 467-EQ Beacon 5 (Via Mortgage PreQual March '12)
Thank you for the advice I was trying to figure out whether I pay LB first then GW, or ask for deletion,or ask them to remove lates before I paid (because I had read on some different threads where people said they'd paid something, and then other people jumped in and said "why'd you do that, now that you don't owe them anything, you have no leverage, and you should've gotten it in writing"). But I've been spending hours reading on here, and I think if I'm understanding it correctly, that PFD would eliminate it from my report all together? Which is definitely not what I want, so that doesn't seem like the way to go (assuming I'm correct in that understanding) 
,
But in my case I should pay, then GW letter afterwards. That's what I needed to know. Thank you,
I swear,I'm not dumb, honestly, LOL. Just REALLY uneducated on this new credit report/FICO universe, and I'm reading/learning as fast as I can, but also trying to get answers quickly to the immediate more time sensitive questions.
Thank you
I will call LB tomorrow and go ahead and pay them off then. And start working on the GW letter, and try to figure out where to send it.
That'll just leave the big 'ol Sallie Mae loan to deal with.
And the tax lien that isn't reported correctly (because I paid it)
Everything else is older and included in either consolidation or BK, so I don't know if there's anything else I can do?
@ FR,
It's also pretty easy to forget how much we spend on daily stuff like Starbucks, gas, cigars, Starbucks, beer, yogurt, and other incidentals like food.
@drkaje wrote:@ FR,
It's also pretty easy to forget how much we spend on daily stuff like Starbucks, gas, cigars, Starbucks, beer, yogurt, and other incidentals like food.
Cigars, beer and yogurt..
I wanna party with THIS guy!
-scott
@rckstrscott wrote:
@drkaje wrote:@ FR,
It's also pretty easy to forget how much we spend on daily stuff like Starbucks, gas, cigars, Starbucks, beer, yogurt, and other incidentals like food.
Cigars, beer and yogurt..
I wanna party with THIS guy!
-scott
I'm a finely tuned machine, LOL!
@FrugalRican wrote:If you know anyone who owns a house and are trust-worthy and wouldn't mind you poking and prodding... ask them what they REALLY pay on a monthly basis for a house around that range. Make sure you are well-informed before you get caught up with maintenance fees/issues, property taxes, high utility costs, etc, etc, etc...
A lot of people use those calculators and it really doesn't give them a true sense of what they will end up paying for once they actually own a house.
So make sure you get yourself a clearer picture of rent vs mortgage.
That's really good advice, thank you
Maybe I can find something online that shows an average of utilities in that area or something...(don't know if a site like that exists, but I'll give it a search)
Well I just got off the phone with Lane Bryant. They told me I could be considered current with payment of $369, but I paid whole thing off anyway. I asked them to confirm that the payment will make my account current, and remain open with good standing, and she said yes, but it usually takes 30-45 days to reflect that. I also asked (because no harm in asking) if they would remove any of the past lates on the report, and she said yes, but again, we need to wait 30-45 days. Hope that's all true...
I also just signed up for the trial ScoreWatch, so I could get my FICO. I like Equifax's score much better lol. I currently (with LB still on there as bad) have 570 with Equifax and 528 with Transunion (bought that one so I'd have a better idea of where I stand).
Score simulator has me as potentially over 570-590 on Equifax and potentially 578-618 on Transunion just from that update. That's not even including dealing with Sallie Mae
Funny Equifax doesn't show that silly tax lien that's on TU (the one that I paid a long time ago)...
So there's check mark #1 off the list.