The biggest mistake people make when rebuilding credit is they treat it the same as building credit, so they focus on opening up new accounts. But opening up new accounts won't do anything to fix negative information on your credit report, that's a lie spread by predatory credit monitoring sites like Credit Karma and others. Unfortunately, opening new accounts right now is like putting a coat of paint on a wrecked car; it will look a little nicer, but it will still be wrecked: Credit Myth #49 - The best way to rebuild credit is to open new accounts. It takes 7 years for negative information to come off your credit reports, but there are a few things you can try in order to get some of it removed early. For missed payments, you want to try goodwill letters (read this comment of mine where I explain the "goodwill saturation technique" and provide links). For collections, you want a "pay-for-delete" where you agree to pay them if they remove the collection from your credit reports. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to get charge-offs removed early, but you should still pay them. And it's possible they'll settle for a lesser amount. All that said, it's still a good idea to work on building credit too. If you don't have an open credit card that's currently "paid as agreed", you should get one. You'll almost certainly need to go the secured card route. If Discover or Capital One won't approve you yet, try your local bank or credit union; that's often the best way to get a secured card with bad credit. Just make sure you follow the golden rule of credit cards and always pay the statement balance by the due date each month. Avoid "credit builder" accounts. They're gimmicks at best, and scams at worst. Despite the marketing, they don't build credit any better than regular credit cards do (and usually they're worse). And lenders will often ignore them completely when checking your credit since they know they're not real accounts. And they cost money, whereas a credit card from a reputable bank is free if used correctly. Plus credit cards from major banks can eventually be product-changed to higher-end rewards cards that you'll use for years, well after your credit has rebounded. Credit Myth #17 - "Credit builder" products are superior for building credit compared to non "Credit builder" products. Also, make sure you're looking at relevant credit scores. You have dozens of different credit scores, but the ones you see at many sites (including two of the three bureaus' websites) are VantageScore 3.0 scores that are used so rarely by banks that they're almost completely irrelevant and should be ignored. You want to check your FICO scores, usually FICO 8. This thread explains it in more detail and also tells you where to find your FICO 8 scores for free: Credit Myth #1 - You only have one credit score. More on reddit.com

Capital One let's some really bad scores through. Potentially you may need to get a secured card until your credit improves. More on reddit.com

Capital One and Discover tend to be friendlier issuers for new or rebuilding players. Try pre-approving and let us know your results: Capital One (student): https://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/preapprove/student/ Capital One (non-student): https://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/preapprove/ Discover: https://www.discovercard.com/application/preapproval/initial Be sure to list the exact product names of the products you pre-approve for (e.g., “Savor Rewards” isn’t the same offer as “Savor Rewards for good credit”). More on reddit.com

Check to see if you have a pre approval offer on the table with Capital One. They are typically the best chance and most accepting of a dirty file. More on reddit.com