@Anonymous wrote:
Long time lurker first time poster!
So I decided at the age of 31 with a wife and a 6 year old that it is time to grow up and take control of my credit. I finally graduated college and started graduate school. I also finally have a very good job that pays quite will for the first time in my life. So the wife and I are starting to look at houses to get our son into a better school district. I decided to pull my scores and TS came in at 604 and the other two were 584 and 568. Not a huge shock because of my past negligent attitude.
I currently have a repossession on my record that has been settled but is obviously still there You need to begin a GW letter campaign to the reporting creditor asking for removal of the TL. http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/GW-letter-Q-amp-A-Examples-and-GW-Success-Stories/td-p/1573680
and I have two paid judgements which I know hurt. Check and see if you can get the judgments vacated on grounds they have been paid, in some states this is possible you can goto the laws governing the civil court system and find what reasons a judgment can be vacated, The judgment may not be in the same state you love in so the laws of the state where it was granted would apply.
Again I was never really concerned with any of that stuff but times have changed! I decided to get a secured card with Navy Federal, my mom put me as an authorized user on her Home Depot card so it is a start. Good start now you need to obtain at minimum 2 more in your own name ASAP to drive your Fico score even if they have to be secured. I would first try the Cap-1 prequal page and see if anything comes up there for you, even if nothing shows and you have not burned Cap-1 in the last year try for the platinum.
http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Secured-Cards-Database/td-p/3846302
Now because of this excellent forum I decided to sign up for the myfico 3B ultimate program. However, I have no idea where to begin with these scores. I get that mortgage lenders use a different score but myfico report shows a mortgage score on all three bureaus for three different FICO scores! One says the FICO 2 score and another says FICO 4 score and lastly the FICO 5 score. I have no idea where to begin but I am really dedicated to joining everyone in the 700 club!
Good luck in your rebuilding journey and welcome to My Fico 
Thank you so much for the excellent advice! You recommend two secure cards? I was approved for the capital one secure before I decided to enroll with NFCU and since I am now a member I was planning on getting their card. I was going to start with a $1k limit but if a card from capital one will help as well then I may just throw $1k at that limit as well. My credit does not look HORRIBLE as it once was but ultimately I want to get a mortgage! Thanks again for your assistance
ALSO, what would you recommend I sent as a GW to the reposession. What would I ask them to remove? I see that it is showing as paid on my credit report but it still has that ugly repo word on it 