Please help with my bad credit. =(?

My score is 522, I put a mini sample of my report at the bottom of the page from experian. I have not paid on any of my accounts in about 5 years and all delinquent accounts fall off in 2010. (accounts were in good standing prior for about 2 years) Most past due accounts are written as %26#039;charge offs%26#039; and I don%26#039;t know if it will help my credit to pay them or if its not worth it if they drop off anyways. The only thing good on my report now is a $75 walmart card and a student loan that just went on there (I%26#039;m not due to pay on it yet). I was thinking of adding a pre paid credit card from my bank (US bank) to boost my score. My idea was to start new good credit now that will stay on my report beyond the time everything bad falls off. If I need to pay some things off, which should I first- collection, installment, or revolving? I%26#039;m trying to get an apartment but my bad credit is not allowing me to! I really want to fix it but cant just pay it all off at once and I%26#039;m worried if I make payments it will change the drop off date to another 7 years..Also, if I make payments they won%26#039;t likely defer the interest (which is almost half of the charge for many) like they will if I pay it off in one big payment (just cant do that with all of them all at once) Please help, I am lost =(

thanks so much

Credit Profile

Percentage of credit currently available 100%

Satisfactory accounts 14

Now delinquent/derogatory accounts 1

Was delinquent/derogatory accounts 4

Public records 0

Number of inquiries 5

Debt Profile

Real Estate debt (mortgages) $0

Revolving debt (bank and retail cards) $488

Installment debt (fixed payment loans) $5,470

Other debt $0

Collection debt $1,696

Your Approximate Total Debt $7,654

Please help with my bad credit. =(?

I can help. First, it%26#039;s not the end of the world. Yes, it%26#039;s possible to fix your credit yourself. With a little hard work and perserverance, and patience, you could get it back up there. What you have to understand is what makes up your credit score:

1. Payment history- 35%

2. Total debt owed to avialable credit ratio-30%

3. Length of time establishing credit-15%

4. Types of credit established-10%

5. Inquiries and New accounts-10%

With that in mind, this is some steps that you should do in order to get yourself in a better financial position to rebuild your score:

1. Open a checking and savings account- while this won%26#039;t directly affect your credit score, it does many things. It re-establishes a relationship between you and a financial institution, which by being an customer in good standing, could help make it easier to get approved for credit cards and loans. Most importantly, by opening a checking account

it gives you the single most powerful tool in building credit, to help pay your bills on time, especially if the bank offers online billpay.

2. Gather ALL your credit reports- It%26#039;s important to know exactly what%26#039;s on your reports. A lot of times, people believe that their credit is so bad, that they don%26#039;t bother to check their reports for mistakes, and trust me, mistakes DO happen. The credit bureaus don%26#039;t get paid to be accurate, they get paid to report. It%26#039;s important that you gather reports from all 3 agencies to determine not just who and how much you owe, but to make sure that what%26#039;s on there is even correct. If you do happen to find something that you%26#039;re sure is not right, you should dispute with all 3 agencies, they all have an online dispute feature in which you can dispute the item. Once you%26#039;ve made sure that there%26#039;s no inaccuracies on your report, then you should arrange your debts from most recent and lowest amount to oldest and highest amount. Debts that are newer than 2 years are hurting your score the worst and should be handled first. What you should know that just paying off debts, especially collection debts will not help your score. A %26quot;pay to delete%26quot; or %26quot;deletion payment%26quot;, which is a payment in exchange for removing it from your report completely. I posted several links that explains this more in detail.

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/set...

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/neg...

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/Can...

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/Act...

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/debt/deb...

If you%26#039;re sucuessful, this will help your score.

3. Open new credit- I had mentioned in #1, about opening a checking and savings account with a bank or credit union, I%26#039;m going to tie that in with what I%26#039;m about to say. Some major banks (Bank of America, Wells Fargo, USBank, Orchard Bank) and some credit unions offer secured credit cards, which are credit cards that require a deposit to establish credit. Whatever you deposit would be the credit line, for example, if you deposited $300, then your credit line would be $300. The deposit isn%26#039;t used to pay for what%26#039;s purchased on the card, you would still need to either pay in full or make monthly minimum payments. The deposit is used only if the account becomes delinquent and goes to collections. A couple of good things is that you can increase the credit limit by adding to the deposit, which can help your score because it creates a much needed cushion between the total debt that%26#039;s owed and the available credit, and also the deposit is sometimes linked to a savings account which earns interest while you%26#039;re building credit, so the deposit isn%26#039;t just sitting there. A good way to build credit with the card is to make small purchases ($20/month max) and pay it off on time every month, while adding to the deposit. Usually after a year or so, of paying it off on time, the card either converts to a regular card or it%26#039;s upgraded to a better card, and most importantly the deposit isn%26#039;t needed anymore and it%26#039;s given back. My suggestion would be to open another secured card and repeat the process or open 2 at a time, which would speed things up. If you make small purchases, pay it off and increase the limits, that will really help your score. In the end, you%26#039;ll have 2 credit cards with decent limits and an emergency fund from the deposits.

4. Enroll with PRBC- PRBC is America%26#039;s Alternative Credit Bureau, providing a helpful service to the over 50 million people with limited or no credit history. If you pay your monthly bills on time, PRBC can help you build credit to qualify for a mortgage and better interest rates.On-time payments for the following bills are not reported to the traditional credit bureaus:

Rent

Cable

Phone

Daycare

Insurance

Electric

Natural Gas

Cell Phone

The only time your payments for these bills are reported to the other credit bureaus is if they%26#039;re missing or late.With PRBC, your on-time payments count. You build credit for paying your bills on time, even if you have no credit history. PRBC has teamed up with Fair Issac, the creators of the FICO score to introduce the FICO expansion score which helps people build credit. Here%26#039;s a link that explains more in detail:

http://www.fairisaac.com/fic/en/product-...

Please help with my bad credit. =(?

Pay on time, or early, in the future.

Please help with my bad credit. =(?

I am not sanguine.