<prompt> Human: This is strictly my experience but if it can help anyone itll be worth me writing it out. To start things off, I had a lot of debt go into collections from my own bad decisions and helping out my family before I took care of my own responsibilities. So Ill add that as my first step because the amount of family member did XYZ and now Im paying for it on this sub is absolutely unfortunate to say the least. Im going to write this as if Im currently writing to my 18 year old self.1 Take care of you first as much as possible. I was helping my mom, my sister and my ex wife live a life style none of us could afford. I guess 1a can be live within your means, which I feel should go without saying but Im going to say it anyway. 2 Get a secure credit card. Whats that? You give the bank money, and however much you give them is your line of credit. I have one with USAA for 250. I use it for things like gas, I dont exceed 30 of my credit limit, and I never miss a payment. This is the foundation for my current credit score. MAKE SURE THE CREDIT CARD COMPANY REPORTS MONTHLY. Companys can report as frequently as they want. If you make your payment every month and the company only reports quarterly or annually, your credit score will only go up 4 times or once respectively. If you pay your bill every month make sure you get credit for it pun absolutely intended. Once your credit score hits about a 515 youll start to get offers for other credit cards. DO NOT TAKE THEM. Edit: I used USAA specifically because I already bank with them. Another user recommends Discover since it can graduate to an unsecured card.3 Pay your debt. Were going to do this in a few steps after you get your credit report its free to check your own credit and does not hurt you to do so. Use credit karma or similar sites:Edit: for debt that has not been sent to collections, pay off debts with larger interest rates first. If possible, consolidate under one debt with a very small interest rate. For debt that is in collections, use the following:3a For smaller debts 500 dispute them. Credit Karma lets you do it right through the app. Most companies wont put forth the energy to fight it and will just let it go. Also, dispute claims you know are false. I had about 2 on my credit report.Edit: okay a lot of people are commenting on the moral implications of this. Yes, lying is bad. So is predatory debt collecting. If youre debt is with the original account holder this wont work to begin with, and you should try to resolve with a payment plan before it hits collections. However, once a debt collector has it that means they paid pennies on the dollar to try to squeeze out as much as they can from you. Sometimes theyll be alright with writing it off, and other times theyll settle for a smaller amount. 3b For larger debts 500 call the debt collector and see if you can settle for a smaller amount. Be prepared to pay all at once. A 3,000 debt can turn into a 1,500 debt. 3c For debts that cant be lessened or disputed student loan debts, etc set up a payment plan. Make sure its and amount of money you can afford. 10 a month is more progress than 0 a month. The debt collector will try to make you make larger payments. Dont. This debt is already in collections. It cant get worse. Pay what you can. If youre able to pay it off, do so. But dont make ridiculous payments at the expense of your well being. 4 Once your credit score is above a 640 apply for a personal loan. The less money the better. Do this and make the minimum payment. Ride the payment out to term. This will develop your credit history. You WILL pay interest, but its a small price to pay to improve your credit. If youre smart youll leave that money alone and it will pay itself off, minus the interest. This is important because credit card debt only applies to about 30 of your total credit score. A personal loan will make up the rest of it.DISCLAIMERA vehicle loan is considered a personal loan. DO NOT finance a vehicle at this point unless you absolutely have to. Your interest rate will be outrageous. Take the bus, bike, walk, car pool. Do whatever you have to to keep that car payment as far away from you as possible. 5 Save save save. Save as much money as you can while youre doing everything else.If anyone with more experience wants to add to this, please do. Ill edit as appropriate.Edit: Ive addressed some issues in this thread, mainly moral implications.  <response>: I want to throw in a couple of points.First, I pull my credit reports from annualcreditreport.com and use that information to know where to focus. You can save the reports as a PDF to your computer. I do like CreditKarma and Experians iOS apps to monitor things, I just trust AnnualCreditReport more, and I think they give you a longer payment history on the reports. Plus it was formed as a result of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the other free sites primary goal is to increase revenue.If you do settle a debt with a company, they will ask you for your bank account information on the phone. Do NOT give them this, ever, ever. The only appropriate response after they agree to settle the debt is Please mail me the settlement offer we agreed to in writing, and include information to where I can mail the money order.If the debt collection company is calling you and you are ready to offer an amount to settle, be prepared that they will tell you they cant possibly settle for less than the amount of the original debt. Be prepared for them to suggest that you must have family or friends that you can borrow more money from. Theyre rude and may attack you personally. Just stick to your guns, and dont be afraid to insist that they mail you a settlement offer in writing, and then hang up. Theyre debt collectors, theyll call back eventually ;-If you do find misinformation on the credit report, make sure to follow up with your dispute claim and make sure it is stopped reporting on your credit reports! Id ask them to erase misinformation that affects your credit history and score. 