I need help on where to begin! I just pulled my FICO and it’s 600. Me and my husband want to get a house together sometime next year. His credit is perfect, mine on the other hand has a lot of black marks due to non paid debt, collections, etc. I have 4 active cards, (Merrick, 2-Capital One, HSBC) and they are all paid on time never late. But the balances are high =( I’m currently trying to pay them down and hoping my score will go up after that. But what about all the collections and black marks? I always heard not to wake a sleeping dragon but some accounts are from 2001 and are being reported as recent as April 2012 with balances from collection agencies. Will these ever go away or do they need to be paid and settled? PLEASE HELP!! I’m lost right now!