Well, after some CC settlements that I brought upon myself in my youth and paid off in 2007, I'm finally starting to see some good improvement.
For anybody wondering how long it takes to get scores back up, view my sig line. I just got my report a couple minutes ago. I've got a mortgage, 4 cards with relatively small balances I'm working with at this time and no car payment.
They are going up faster than I expected, but I guess the good history is finally starting to outweight the bad and the stupidity. My futureFICO said that my best course of action would be to pay down 90-100% of my current CC balances over the next 24 months. One card has been canceled. I have one general use card and two store cards with less than 700 combined on them and neither with interest for a year. Total, I've got 3k to pay off over 24 months. Minimum 200 per month coming off that balance.
Anyway, it said if I do that alone combined with the 2 more years of good history, my scores will be in the mid to upper 700s.
Moral of the story: I was in a huge mess 3 years ago. Now there is light at the end of the tunnel. I've had one hard inquiry on only my Equifax in the last 12 months, which was last month. (Was denied.) Will not apply for anything else for at least another year.
EQ 817, EX 815, TU 813 (Updated 1/5/18: TU 843