What can I do to improve my credit score?

Pay off any collection debts that are on your credit report. Regardless if paid or not, they will fall off your credit report in 7 years, but outstanding collection debts are worse than settled debts or paid in full collection debts. Basically start getting your credit report cleaned up, and paying off collections is Step1...Maybe even try to deal with them and ask to have it marked "payed as agreed."

If you currently have any debt (credit cards, student loans, mortgage), always make sure you pay on time. Never be more than 30+ days late at minimum.

Never close any credit cards. And the ones that you do have, get your outstanding balance low and your available total credit high. You want to be using a low percentage of available credit.

If you don't have a credit card, you need to get one. With your score, you'll need to look for "CCs for people with bad credit." Nonetheless, you need debt (or at least debt accounts) and to pay it on time each month for your credit score to begin improving.

I don't want to start another credit thread so I will hijack this one for a second....

I am getting ready to purchase another property and I haven't checked my credit in about a year. If I go ahead and pull my free credit report will that ding me at all? Should I just wait for the bank to check it?

I had about 30k in hospital, doctor, physical therapy, appts and other medical related bills that my mom and I thought we had paid them off. It wasn't until we saw one from collections that we figured one slipped by.

Pay off any debts and talk to the agencies to get them marked to paid.

Get a credit card and pay it off each month in full.

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If I go ahead and pull my free credit report will that ding me at all?

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Not a bit. It's a good idea to do this occasionally to make sure it is accurate. I do it the legally mandated 3 times per year for free.

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If I go ahead and pull my free credit report will that ding me at all? Should I just wait for the bank to check it?

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If you have more than one bank or car dealer or whatever check your credit in a short enough time period, it hurts you because it looks like you're shopping around your credit because it's bad. That's why they say not to let the loan officer or car dealer run your credit until you're ready to sign.

Also, you can check your credit report for free at annualcreditreport.com. Someone else said it's mandated to be free three times a year. I thought it was just once, but regardless you can use that website for free.