You should pay down your current card to lower your utilization ASAP.
Do the Capital One prequalify. I think I was at about 620 for TU when I did my spree. Cards that pulled Equifax were a big fat DENIAL 
And my EQ was about where yours is.
3 yrs ago my scores were in the 500s. Now in the high 600s to low 700s. I started out with Credit one ( now closed) then Cap One, Discover, Barclays. I also got a Cabelas and Stash One Visa and some gas store cards. Cap one gave me the highest limits along with synchrony cards. Good Luck in your rebuilding.
@Anonymous wrote:Hey folks, long story short, in 2013, i lost my job, and had about 9,000 worth of credit go to collections when I couldnt pay. I was young and dumb, didn't seek any sort of payment deferments and basically just let it happen to me which i seriously regret.
in feb 2015, i was apporved for an auto loan and have been paying on time since then. That alone boosted my credit score from 430 to 565 (rough avg b/w 3 scores) About 2 months ago I opened my first new Credit Card in About 6 years, and after paying it and keeping the balance at zero, it bumped my credit scroes up to about 592 avg.
I'm trying to figure out other accounts that I might be able to open in order to low my UTI% and also to open in order to keep open and better my AAoA. I'm not looking to spree, just to ask some real world folks who know their stuff on what my best options would be? I believe the Capitol One platinum card shows I have good odds at being accepted, but its also on Credit Karma's site and I'm sure theyre a paying advertiser. Any advice for someone who is just trying to rebuild and fix some serious damage?
You should be trying to get the old negatives off your report too.
@SouthJamaica wrote:You should be trying to get the old negatives off your report too.
+1. That would be the single biggest difference you could make for your score.
That said, there are factors to consider before taking action on baddie removal.
If the baddies are somewhat aged, then it might be better to wait until they drop off. Yours are about 3 years old, so you're less than halfway to droppage (@7 years). Making payment arrangements with the creditor can restart the 7 year period sometimes, I believe. Worth verifying (ideally don't talk to the creditor at all, even to ask about this, until you're ready to make arrangements). That just means, if you're going to try to pay it in exchange for a delete, make sure you can, or you're just extending the reporting period.
You can also just call them and arrange to pay, with nothing in return. Then after paying, write a goodwill letter to remove the negative report. IIRC (if I recall correctly), this is how I had one removed years ago. You can find example goodwill letters. They work best if you are 100% honest and up front; don't even make a hint of excuses; but say you learned your lesson that ignoring it isn't how to deal with such an issue, you just panicked after losing job etc. Or whatever.
One long shot is the 30-day dispute verification method. I found this out via a positive report, actually: I had paid a loan, but it was reporting a balance still. Even though it was a satisfactorily paid and closed account. I disputed the balance, Transunion took 30 days to contact the creditor and verify. Apparently the creditor never replied within the 30 days, so by law Transunion deleted the entire account. I was slightly bummed, since my file was one positive thinner. But if you have anything to dispute about an account, there's a chance the creditor won't get back to the CRA within 30 days, and the CRA then deletes it.
