getting ready to buy my first house

also i have talked with a lot of the collection companies and they have agreed to remove the accounts when payment is made. I had them mail me a letter saying they would.

Maybe there is a company out there you could set down with and review your credit and build you a plan to reach your goals.

If the collections are all med bills, if you haven't already, I would dispute them...if they can't validate, then they can't collect and therefore must be removed from your reports.

CA will lie to you to get them to pay...do not pay them until you receive the DV back and a letter stating that they will remove them...keep in mind, most CA don't bother to remove them once the account is paid, and the CRA's position is that they can't remove accurate info...so, IMO...I would dispute those collections.

Also, since they date back to 2003 - ALMOST the 7 year reporting time frame is up and they should drop off your report soon.

It's gonna take some work, but you can get it done.

It sounds like you have a good mix of trade lines on your reports. A major factor is the % of credit utilized on your unsecured credit (CC). Since you are around 10% utilization, you are in good shape...you'll see that once you get those collections off, your report will improve...I've seen typically around 7 -10 points improvement for each collection account removed, in my experience.