Late 2018 to the early part of 2019, I had a very big (in the thousands) electric bill that was placed in collections. I fell on hard times and after seeing that on my report I just avoid looking at my report.
In April of this year, I gain the courage to look at my credit report and see what it was looking like. My Fico score was 555 (Experian) 
Surprisingly, this just came off of my credit report by the time I looked at it in April of this year. Don't know how or why, but I am not asking any questions lol.
In June, I decided to start working on what was on my CR with the help of this forum. In the past few months, I've learned so much about credit from this forum and there is still more to learn.
From April to June: My Experian only went up 10 points and that is probably from the Installment Loan I got from my CU in October of 2019 and slowly making payments online and etc.
Here is a snapshot of what my CR looked like in June 2020:
Trans: 570 -
2 Collection Account:
$165 (7 months old)- Time Warner Bill (CreditManagmenet)
$92 (3 yrs old) -Medical Bill
1 Open Account
Credit Union Loan $1,500 -- Report Balance of $591 (8 Months old)
2 Inquiries
Cap One
Credit Union
Experian: 565
1 Collection Account:
$165 (7 months old)- Time Warner Bill(CreditManagement)
1 Open Account:
Credit Union Loan $1,500 -- Report Balance of $591 (8 Months old)
2 Inquiries:
Cap One
Credit Union
Equifax: 590
2 Collection Account:
$165 (7 months old) -Time Warner Bill (CreditManagement)
$92 (3 yrs old) -Medical Bill
1 Open Account:
Credit Union Loan $1,500 -- Report Balance of $591 (8 Months old)
2 Inquiries:
Cap One
Credit Union
_______________________________________
I have no closed account or no previous credit cards or etc. After some reading and some great advice from the forum members, I successfully worked out an agreement with Time Warner/Credit Management to remove the collections if I paid in full. After the removal of that my score went to 660 (Experian), 670 (Equifax), and 682 (TU).
I was determined after seeing the difference that made. I made several attempts to remove the other collections without any success and to the very day it's still on my CR lol 
. I was very disappointed that the collections agency wouldn't work that agreement out.
I kept reading and realized (if I understood correctly) that Fico 8 doesn't factor in collections under $100.
After seeing my new scores, June 30th, I applied for a capital secured credit card (Plantium with a $200 limit with a $100 deposit). Experian didn't show any drop in points, 665(Dropped 5 points) for Equifax, and 668(Dropped 14 points) for TU.
I now started thinking about paying down the installment loan lower than 8.9%. I was curious to see how much points I would gain. At the end of June, my balance of the $1,500 loan was $475. I decided to pay it down to $92 by the end of July.
Experian updated this morning for me but the other two haven't yet. I was shocked to see an increase of 60 points for paying my installment loan down. Pushing me up to 720!!!!
The credit card haven't yet shown up on my CR. I have $2.99 sitting on it as a balance out of the $200 CL from a coffee I purchased and put the card away (not to be used again until Sept). Capital One (on the app) says it due August 28.
Questions:
1.)As my first credit card that is being reported will that decrease my score?
2.)Do you think it possible to reach 800 by the end of the year?
3.) Am I missing something or should I be doing something else?
4.) My installment loan is due to end in Oct. I was thinking about getting a small SSL, immediately paying it down under 8.9%. Should I do this before my current installment loan end or should I do it after?
@Anonymous wrote:@Anonymous
These are the codes: Short Account History, No Revolving Activity & Few Accounts Paid On Time
You have to continue paying that secured card on time. Small purchases monthly will help. Account History comes with time. I would check some of the issuers on their pre-qualification sites and see what comes up. Make sure the report updates properly with the TimeWarner account as well.
@Anonymous
Congrats on taking some massive action and on your Cap One card as well. There are some experts that will weigh in I'm sure but until then, I will share a bit of my history with you. In July of 2019 I was an AU on two cards and had nothing of my own. I pulled my real scores from myFico and because of the AU accounts my scores were between 726-741. That was all that was reporting. I picked up a couple of cards and a Self Lender loan to start building my own file.
What I found was that even though my scores were high, availability for new cards was very limitedbecause I didn't have history. In this year I have picked up a total of 10 cards (no store cards) and I closed one of them at the 10th month (Credit One) so I didn't have to pay the annual fee again. I am now using each of them monthly and paying them off before the cut with the exception of one, with a balance under $75. My scores took an initial huge dip into the high 600's, and now everything is as of yesterday in the 720's-730's, but I know that consistant payments and time will be my friend for the next 18 months or so. I am just gardening now and I will let the majority of my inquiries age off before I make another move. Cards that let me in initially were Credit One, Capital One, Discover (you can check for an offer on the prequal site) and Navy Federal in the first few months.
Forget Credit One but you may want to look into Discover and see if you are eligible for membership at Navy. Congrats again on getting it done and I know we'll see some great success from you in the near future. Welcome to the community as well!! 
@Anonymous wrote:@1GaDawg85 Thank you for your advice.
The time warner has already been completely removed since paying them off. I've made one purchase with the credit card already which was for $2.99. I am supposed to wait until Cap 1 cuts the statement before paying the $2.99 right? Because I want them to report the $2.99 to the CRAs.
What do you mean by: "I would check some of the issuers on their pre-qualification sites and see what comes up."
Several issuers (Chase, BB&T, AmEx, and a couple others) have pre-qualification websites that you can check. They SP (soft pull) your file and they can be pretty accurate for the most part. Of course, no pre-approval is guaranteed and could easily overturn a denail with a recon.