After lurking for a while I decided to go ahead and take the plunge. I have never been much of a credit card user but have had mortgages and car loans. I had a foreclosure in 2009, regrettably, however car payments and other reportable payents are timely. I found a little bit of garbage on my credit reports, including the fact that I appear to still be carrying a mortgage balance on the foreclosed home. 
Anyway, I think credit report clean-up should help a bit while I develop my strategy to get to goal.
This site has been very helpful to me so I look forward to being well north of 700 by year end!
Starting Score: EQ 661, EX 658, TU 641
Hi and hope to learn allot from the community,
I'm at 616 and my Goal is for 720.
I have not checked my score in many years.
Since the housing market is right, I decided to look for a home to purchase.
To my suprise I found 3 very low amounts owed to 3 Dr.'s
And a Verizon Cell ( Phone ) bill from "03 I never had.
My brother joined this community a few years ago and it helped him to get from 580's to above 800.
He directed me here.
Lot of reading to do here first, And thanks for the great information so far.
On to my Goal of 720.
Starting Score: EQ FICO 777
Hi All! I'm bouncing back from a Chapter 13 bankruptcy almost 7 years ago. My goals are to just become more knowledgeable in general about how credit works and to increase my score as much as possible by the year's end. I've already started working on increasing my scores:
1.) gathered all 3 reports and identified errors; followed up with disputes as needed
2.) been paying my mortgage on time come hell or high water! Just had my loan modified 8/11 and no lates since then...composing goodwill letter to see if they can remove lates from my history since technically it's a new loan...figure it's worth a shot!
3.) sending goodwills to all medical collections (9) requesting to have files deleted...didn't feel the need to sue in an accident and they burnt me for it...insurance eventually paid almost 3 years later 
4.) sent goodwill to Sallie Mae to remove 90 and 120 day lates from 2010 that were part of a student loan consolidation snafu
5.) sending goodwill to Brighthouse Networks to delete collections file...was on extended maternity leave and, well, cable was not a luxury we could afford but were under contract
6.) keeping CC use low; didn't realize that even though I paid them off every month, my utilization remained high from month to month...
These things are important to me because I want to start building instead of coasting by; I want to repair my first home so that I can rent it out and buy another home where I've been living and working for the last 5 years. I also want the sense of accomplishment comes with falling down, getting back up, and looking back at where you were...ever grateful, but forever changed! Thanks for such a forum and best wishes to my fellow challengers!
***UPDATE***
I'm so happy! I sarted the year at below 500, and as of yesterday I'm at 565 and 567 with EQ and TU, respectively! Thus far, I've only disputed some things and written a couple of goodwill letters and managed to get 4 or 5 items removed. I have several more, and am definitely working on those.
I've also taken a credit "rebuilder loan" with a local credit union. Basically, that's a glorified savings account that reports my monthly payments to the bureaus. I've also been added as an AU to one card with a 40K+ limit and no late payments. Lastly, I opened a secured visa. These new lines haven't reported yet, so hopefully in another 4-6 weeks I'll have more good news to share!
My goal is to qualify for a mortgage sometime this summer, with a score of 640. Then I'm on my way into the 700 club!
