<prompt> Human: I use to have an excellent credit score 751, but at 19 I got custody of my teenage sister and had to support her, myself, escape an abuse situation, and I moved halfway across the country twice! Being young while caring for a young person has killed my credit.I have a credit card in collectionsKohls for about 350, a credit card still open at 1000 but its maxed out and I havent been making recent payments, and last March I was evicted from an apartment total slumlord and slum apartment it was an awful situation. I am planning on completely paying off my open credit card this month. I have also successfully rented somewhere since my eviction but my credit score is now in the 400s. What is a reasonable goal to set for getting my score to? How long will it take? Is it a good idea to completely pay off my open card or should I pay it off in a few payments? Side note: I also have lot of medical debt. I have been sick since a child and unless I win the lottery I doubt I will ever pay it all off. But I have heard this doesnt affect you as much as other debts, and clearly my previous score reflected that. Thanks. Edit I make 33k a year, I am self employed. I have recently begun working more in efforts to increase my income. My housing is 1000 a month, 185 car paymentmy partners, 150 car insurance, 50 phone bill, 75 approx in medicationscopays but this is sometimes more or a tiny bit less. I dont pay utilities. I use a lot of gas for work, upwards of 350 a month, and around 400 a month on food.  <response>: I use to have an excellent credit score 751, but at 19 I got custody of my teenage sister and had to support her, myself, escape an abuse situation, and I moved halfway across the country twice! Being young while caring for a young person has killed my credit.This is not advice but kudos to you for manningwomaning up and being there for your sister and doing the really fucking hard things necessary to protect you both. Youre a rock star, whether TransUnion thinks so or not.Secondly, it wont do your credit any favors at all in the short term but if you have as much medical debt as you allude to without hard numbers on that and your income, its hard to give solid advice, bankruptcy could be hugely beneficial to you moving forward and you should seriously consider it.Otherwise, keeping your credit utilization low, your future payments on timeup to date, and increasing your available lines of credit are the ways to improve your score, but they all have one thing in common, which is that they take time.This may take a few years, but it sounds like youre getting back on track. 