I recently paid off the remaining balance on a closed capital one and a discover card. I still have a BofA card and a Chase card that were closed that I am paying down. I will finally pay those off when my tax return arrives. When those two are paid off, I'll be finished climbing out of a fairly deep hole. At the worst of it, I was behind about $10K on my mortgage and had $35K in CC debt. It's embarrassing just to type those totals. It will feel incredible to have no more CC debt.
I checked Cap One's preapproval link today. No interest in applying for one of their cards, but I check it every once in a while to see if anything pops up. I normally get no prequal offers, but recommendations for one of their AF classic platinum cards. I figured that even though my score had improved considerably, I was still not getting anything from them because of the old closed account that wasn't paid off yet. Today, I received an offer for their Venture card with no AF. There were also offers for two other no AF cards.
I currently have two open cards. An Amex PR Gold charge card and a Capital One platinum card with a $39 AF. Once I pay off the closed BofA and Chase cards, and my reports update, depending on the score increase I see, I am considering the Amex SPG. But my main goals right now are building emergency fund and saving for downpayment on a larger house.
Anyway, when I first started trying to climb out of this mess, it seemed like there was no way out. Thank you to everyone here for all of the helpful advice.
Starting Score: ~500 (12/01/2008)