topic Re: Pruning the Garden in Credit Cards

Pruning the Garden

nenuco — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 19:40:57 GMT

So after my recent app spree, I have decided to go in full on gardening mode. My question arises from the process itself. Now I am no gardener perse, but my sources do concur that to keep a garden healthy one must prune the current blossoms and pull out the weeds. I currently have a hefty line of credit when adding all my CL together.

I consider myself a responsible consumer. I never purchase something on a CC I don't have the cash for, I always pay in full etc. etc. Not including charge cards, there must be a certain limit of credit that creditors will lend out. Ergo, one of these days (in the future) I won't be able to ask for a CLI, regardless of my income, credit history or situation. There must be a ceiling on how much a lender will extend, at least to the average consumer.

Now I ask this for a reason. I have a Cap 1 "platinum, does not feel like a platinum" card. Now my Cap 1 has a $500 limit. I'm not going to go into the + & - of that card, but subjectively I don't use it for a series of reasons. As time goes on and I acquire new cards, should cards that I don't use as much be canceled? Not going into the annual/ no annual fee discussion, but purely based on credit. Furthermore if one day I app for a higher end card (i.e. Amex Platinum), will the $500 limit look foolish when compared to my other cards?

To digress on my earlier statement, the cards I am thinking about have no AF, so technically I can sock drawer them. At the same time, in the future I would like to consolidate my credit lines with the lenders I find most beneficial: Chase, Amex, Citi, Discover & maybe BoA having a total of 8 amazing cards that I use conjunctively all the time, with the max CL allotted to each. What are people’s thoughts on this? As always thanks in advance!

P.S. Please don't confuse this with me thinking I'm too good for a particular card or lender. I appreciate any lender that has had the confidence to extend me credit. My question arises from proactive planning.

Re: Pruning the Garden

Wolf3 — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 20:38:08 GMT

The whole gardening analogy makes no sense to me.

However, closing credit cards generarlly does not help your credit.

Re: Pruning the Garden

LS2982 — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 21:40:46 GMT

Have you attempted calling the executive number nenuco?

Re: Pruning the Garden

nenuco — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 22:05:23 GMT

@ LS2982: I did call them, on the same day I did my app spree. They gave me the same answer I have come to expect from them: At this time we do not have any new features for your account.... granted I have not used their card in a year. It's a catch 22, since their card offers no real benefits (1% cashback on everything) and has such a low limit I don't feel compelled to use it. To be honest even if the did give me a CLI, the holistic view I have created as a customer concerning Capital One as an entity furthers my decision to not use their card. What really ticked me off was while Chase and Citi both only used (1) inquiry for the two cards they each granted me, Cap 1 used a HP (even thought the executive told me it would only be a SP). These types of situation really make me want to use their card even less.

Re: Pruning the Garden

Shogun — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 23:11:17 GMT

Some say don't close cards, it'll hurt your credit. But after you've gotten to the point where you've graduated to prime cards, it just makes sense to ditch the subprimes with AFs. If they don't have an AF sock drawer them.

Re: Pruning the Garden

nenuco — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 05:56:12 GMT

So I should sock drawer the cards with no AF instead of closing them? Even if they sat stagnant with the low CL?

Re: Pruning the Garden

konabill — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 07:43:13 GMT

nenuco wrote:
So I should sock drawer the cards with no AF instead of closing them? Even if they sat stagnant with the low CL?

Keeping subprime cards after you have graduated to prime cards makes no sense IF you have an established history with prime cards.

Dont close anything without first contacting the card issuer......Ask for CLI or lower APR etc..........If you want to close it anyway you really have nothing to loose.

Re: Pruning the Garden

creditnocash — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 09:43:47 GMT

you garden by

A: not applying for anything

B: Letting your new and old cards grow.(in age and cl (without hard pulls for cli))

C. When people usually do app sprees all the inquries fall off at the same time so they set a date to garden until that date or somewhere around there.

if you haven't used the cap1 in 6 months though id use it to buy a pack of gum or something.

like stated. if there is no annual fee keep it. its a line that reports. obviously if you have 10k+ lines and 1 500 there is clearly something wrong with that picture.

once you close an account in good standing it reports positive for 10 years after the fact before it drops off from your reports.

Re: Pruning the Garden

Smug — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 11:03:52 GMT

I pruned seven cards a few months ago, and I'm not sorry I did. I have gotten many more prime cards now.

Re: Pruning the Garden

RockinRay — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:00:27 GMT

I got rid of quite a few cards two months ago. It just becomes to much to manage!

This being said, I app'd for and was apporved for a PayPal Extras MC yesterday to tie in to a side line business. :smileytongue:

Re: Pruning the Garden

codimom — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 15:21:01 GMT

as with everything else... your millage may vary.
My thought (and plan for myself) is once my prime real estate ages to a good number, I will prune my sub prime. it is in good standing, and have no AF. it served its purpose, and will continue to make a positive impact on my report for 10 years BUT I will potentially take a hit on utilization. so its a balancing act.

for the record, i really only have 1 card that could be construed as sub prime... its an HSBC Platinum card...now owned by C1. decent rewards (not great) but it does have a decent cl. I don't use it as a primary card anymore, and since its not costing me anything to have, it lives in the sock drawer..

Re: Pruning the Garden

tinuviel — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 16:22:19 GMT

nenuco wrote:
So after my recent app spree, I have decided to go in full on gardening mode. My question arises from the process itself. Now I am no gardener perse, but my sources do concur that to keep a garden healthy one must prune the current blossoms and pull out the weeds. I currently have a hefty line of credit when adding all my CL together.

I consider myself a responsible consumer. I never purchase something on a CC I don't have the cash for, I always pay in full etc. etc. Not including charge cards, there must be a certain limit of credit that creditors will lend out. Ergo, one of these days (in the future) I won't be able to ask for a CLI, regardless of my income, credit history or situation. There must be a ceiling on how much a lender will extend, at least to the average consumer.

Now I ask this for a reason. I have a Cap 1 "platinum, does not feel like a platinum" card. Now my Cap 1 has a $500 limit. I'm not going to go into the + & - of that card, but subjectively I don't use it for a series of reasons. As time goes on and I acquire new cards, should cards that I don't use as much be canceled? Not going into the annual/ no annual fee discussion, but purely based on credit. Furthermore if one day I app for a higher end card (i.e. Amex Platinum), will the $500 limit look foolish when compared to my other cards?

To digress on my earlier statement, the cards I am thinking about have no AF, so technically I can sock drawer them. At the same time, in the future I would like to consolidate my credit lines with the lenders I find most beneficial: Chase, Amex, Citi, Discover & maybe BoA having a total of 8 amazing cards that I use conjunctively all the time, with the max CL allotted to each. What are people’s thoughts on this? As always thanks in advance!

P.S. Please don't confuse this with me thinking I'm too good for a particular card or lender. I appreciate any lender that has had the confidence to extend me credit. My question arises from proactive planning.

As stated by a previous poster, gardening involves refraining from apping for new credit and waiting for your current lines to age and/or grow. But, it can also include pruning out old accounts and pulling up weeds (such as removing errors from your reports or GWing baddies). To use the garden metaphor, I like to think of it as a purposefully planned and developed credit portfolio, as opposed to just a jumbled assortment. That's why I like to talk about gardening goals. What are you hoping to accomplish, and how do you plan to get there? -- that sort of thing.

This certainly implies that one does not app just for the sake of apping. "But there's a hot new card that everyone on the forum is talking about!" That's nice, but does it fit in with YOUR individual needs? "I'm bored and I want to apply for something just because I want to see the words 'Your Approved!'" Well, you may get a brief thrill, but what price will you pay in terms of the effect on your AAoA? Is it worth it?

So, it takes time and thought to build one's credit. Most people start out with lower tiered cards, either that are secured or have some sort of annual fee. After demonstrating responsible use of these starter cards, people are able to move up to better cards, perhaps with no AFs and/or rewards. What happens to the starter cards? The question then becomes: do they currently serve a purpose? Perhaps they may for a while yet, by adding to your overall util. But maybe your new credit lines are generous and the starter lines are insignificant by comparison. If that's the case, then it may be appropriate to close them -- especially if they have an AF.

The bottom line is that you need to look at the overall make up of your collection of cards -- your garden -- and decide which ones are serving a useful purpose and which ones are superfulous and are costing you money and/or aggrevation to keep. Then you'll be able to decide which ones to keep and tend to, and which ones are ripe for pruning.