Welcome to the forum!!! I was the same as you, browsing for a while before ever actually posting. As you know, there’s a ton of good info on here so keep browsing.
First get a copy of your credit reports. All 3 of them. Print them out so you can take notes on them. AnnualCreditReport.com or CreditCheckTotal.com (comes with FICO scores). One is $1 trial and the other is free. Don’t use Credit Karma for scoring purposes, it’s not the real deal for what you need/want. Only use it for credit monitoring.
Regarding your collections:
CCS is pretty easy to deal with. They usually don’t completely own the debt (contracted to collect) so you may be able to make your payment directly to the OC. I just got them off my report last week by dealing directly with the OC (Progressive). The rep told me that they would remove it if I paid her in full. I also wrote down her name and the time of the call. Good thing I did because CCS ended up refusing to delete at first. Then I pulled out all the proof so it worked.
PRA is a nightmare. They won’t delete at all. They are strictly “by the book” and they will try to sue you if they can so be careful with that one.
I don’t have any experience with the other CA you mentioned.
However, if I were you I would send each one of them (besides PRA) a PFD for a percentage of the total amount owed. Some may say yes, some may say no, some may not respond at all. It’s always worth a try.
Credit Cards:
Hard and fast rule of at least 3 to start with. I’d try the Discover Secured card first. Check all prequal pages before applying blindly. Also check Capital One secured and maybe a self lender loan. For another secured card, I hear that Open Sky is pretty good and they don’t even do a credit check so you’re basically guaranteed to be approved. It’s a subprime card but it’ll help the rebuild process and you can close it later when other cards open up for you. That will give you three revolving accounts and an installment loan which helps with your overall mix of credit. It’s an important ingredient in fico scoring.
STAY AWAY from Total Visa, Credit One, Indigo, and the like.
Hope some of this helps. I’m sure other will chime in and speak on anything I missed. Good luck and keep us updated! Always good to see results, keeps me motivated.