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)
CONGRATS!!! 
These are some pretty big strides that you've made. Very inspirational, letting people know that there is hope, and it doesn't last forever. Thank YOU for paying it forward!
Congratulatins, did you end up apping for the card.
@tray wrote:Congratulatins, did you end up apping for the card.
No, I haven't applied for the SPG card yet. I'm still waiting on the tax return. I just filed, so I won't have it for another 10 days or so. And once I receive the return, I'll need to wait for my reports to update after I pay off the BofA and Chase balance. So I'm a month or so out before I apply for the SPG card.
Thanks to everyone for the continued encouragement. Maybe if I feel like banging my head against the wall again, I'll try another round of GW letters to see if I can get any lates removed. But it's looking like I am just going to have to wait for them to age off.