Is my credit ruined forever?

[Krista R]

Well... To start, I am only 24 years old, and at this point, I believe I have the worst possible credit. Although I am not in THAT much debt, I have several charge-off and collection accounts on my credit report... And I have been told that through a huge mistake a made 2+ years ago, I may have a warrant for my arrest...

Here's the deal.
At 18 I was stupid and naive. I took out a few credit cards. None of them with more than a $500 limit. (of course we have to add interest and penalties for NOT paying back these debts as agreed. I did make some payments on them, but definately not like I should have.

Also... I went out and bought a $10,000 car... I made on time payments on the loan until I moved out of state in 2005. I brought the car with me and soon afterward, it broke down. It is still sitting in my driveway. This is on my credit report as a Charge off/ Collection account. Do I have a warrant for "stealing" this car? I have no problem with wanting to pay this car off..(cont)
and possibly keep it and fix it and sell it... But IS IT TOO LATE? Will I be allowed to start payments with the collection agency?

For the credit card debt I have, it only totals up to be about $3000, all charged off. I want to PAY THESE! What steps do I need to take to do so? According to my credit report, none of these were sent to collections. Do I just write to the orginal debtor and request a payment plan?

Please help me, I am trying to do the right thing and fix my past mistakes, without having to file for a bankruptcy.

Appreciate all the help.
Thanks for that infor Bitt... However, by looking at my credit report... It says the report date on a few of the accounts is 3/2008. So now I'm in for at least another 7 yrs right? I didn't know that they could wait that long to report a bad debt... This is all confusing to me.