WHAT'S THE NEXT STEP?

[FREEMASON8040]

Hey guys this forum has been a lot of help to me and I thank you, before finding myfico I was being hopeless and giving up on my credit. 

But finding this forum motivated me to better myself for my future. 

Okay here is the deal  my credit score is in the 540s. I have two major collections one from hsbc for 2k and one from Capital One for 900.

The capital one went to judgment called the collector today to set up a payment arrangement to pay if full not the settlement offer they gave me.

My mom put me a authorized user on capital one cash rewards card, and I applied for capital one secured card and was approved.

I also applied for BOA secured but denied me, even tried a backdoor number and nothing.

So my question is should I look for another secured card to have more credit?

And how do I go to take the capital one judgment off my report?

O yea forgot to mention IM a authorize user on my brother's amex zync card but he has that almost maxed out, but is still making payment never late.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[RobertEG]

What are the facts surrounding the HSBC collection?  As an unpaid debt with a reported major derog, that is a big red flag to potential creditors.

The AUs, regardless of whether they are helping or hurting your score (and the one at high util is probably hurting), wont carry much weight in a manual review.

And low scores often lead potential creditors to look a bit deeper.

I would concentrate on your current major derogs before questing new credit.

[FREEMASON8040]

i contacted the collector today to set up an arrangment.

so i should just avoid new credit try to fix the collections and mean while build some good credit with capital one?

hsbc 1700 charged off account 

TransUnion Experian Equifax Account #: 70212703**** 702127038586**** 169692-038586**** Condition: Derogatory Derogatory Derogatory Balance: $1684 $0 $0 Type: Charge account Charge account Pay Status: Collection/Chargeoff

[RobertEG]

Whether to app for new credit now is a personal decision..... however, by first cleaning up your CR, you will be in a better postion to get new credit on better terms.

One of the first steps I would consider is ditching the AU account that is probably hurting your score.  Maxed out util is most likely hurting a lot more than the age of that account is helping.  

[FREEMASON8040]

so i should take off the amex AU account only or both the capital one and amex au accounts