Hey fontanaman,
Although I am a newbie to credit, I’ll try to help as best I can based on the knowledge I’ve learned in my research. You’ve already mentioned the baddies that are affecting your score, and after they fall off, that will obviously improve your score. Having another credit line (if you get the second secured card) should also help a lot because it will increase your credit to debt ratio, decreasing your debt %.
Other factors that really affect your score include Average Age of Accounts and Utilization. Do you know your AAoA and/or Credit Utilization %? The standard they usually tell you is use no more than 30% of your credit limit, but from different forums, I’ve read that people say having about 10% or less reported on your credit report is best and actually better than having 0% reported (paid in full before statement cut date). So that would mean letting a balance of about 10% of your credit limit be on your statement, to be reported to the bureaus.
Here is a link for more basic information about improving scores: http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/ImproveYourScore.aspx