<prompt> Human: Im a 27 year old male in Washington state. I quit heroin 17 months ago. During my run I did countless things that destroyed my credit.I cannot get a bank account due to fraud reports I think. That rules out getting a prepaid credit card at one.I have been paying what is owed to collections and am nearly there to getting it all paid off. Ive done pay for deletes where its possible. But even so I cant get approved for anything and am at a loss as to how I start making progress. Am I stuck just waiting out a seven year period where things fall off reports?I cant even get a post paid phone at any given carrier at this point. Anyone else have some tips or advice? You all helped out immensely with getting my debts paid off. Im eternally grateful for that!  <response>: Step1 Stop adding further negative things to your creditStep2 Save up 1,000 cash and go to a local credit union and open up a secured credit card with a 500 limit. Go to another credit union and repeat this. You now have two 500 dollar credit cards secured by your own deposit. Use these cards once or twice a month to buy a starbucks coffee and pay them off. Having these two positive trade lines will slowly build up a responsible positive credit history3 Pull up your credit report and write down your bad debts. Save up some cash and then contact the creditors offering to settle the bad debt for 25 of what you owed them. Negotiate with them. When they accept pennies on the dollar get it in writing and keep that letter or email forever. dont give them direct access to your bank account and pay them with a money order or certified check. Attach the receipt to the letter they gave you and save both forever.In conclusion as your two secured credit cards build positive fresh history and your slowly start to settle and close out your previous bad debts for pennies on the dollar you will build and repair your history. 