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Greetings, fellow credit gardeners! Autumn is upon us as we start a new month. And so, I hereby convene the October meeting of the myFICO Garden Club.
For those who are new to the concept of gardening, it involves refraining from applying for new credit or seeking CLIs that require hard pulls. Soft pulls CLIs, however, are not only acceptable, but are encouraged. The idea is to allow one's current TLs to grow and mature, waiting for inqs to age or fall off, and possibly waiting for "baddies" to be removed or age off. During this time, one tends to one's current accounts and watches their AAoA grow and the new credit ding fade.
So, if you're at the stage of your credit journey where you're ready to enter the garden, please come and join us. You may pick up your complimentary watering can and garden gloves by the front door -- you can even choose your favorite color! We're proud to offer a well appointed clubhouse. There is a snack table set up. In honor of Oktoberfest, we have a German themed buffet for your dining pleasure! Offerings include an assortment of sausages -- bratwurst, knockwurst and weiners -- along with bavarian sauerkraut and german potato salad. For those with hearty appetite, we also have rindsrauladen (stuffed beef rolls), spatzle and red cabbage. To accompany, we have a good selection of imported german and domestic beers, along with a choice of soft drinks.For dessert we have black forest cake, apple strudel and linzer tarts. We have an appetizer selection consisting of salmon pate on rye crisps, sweet potato spinach stuffed triangles, and as always, an assortment of mini-quiches. Please feel free to bring and add any items that you'd like. And, in the corner diagonally across from the front door, there is a fully stocked bar. If needed, there are some anti-itch medications stocked in our supply cabinet near the door -- Lanacaine, Benedryl, etc. If you need to place your reports in the deep freeze, we also have a freezer, located next to the bar, so go ahead and throw your reports in!
Come on in and make yourself comfortable. Make a gardening plan and commit to sticking with it! Are you planning to wait six months before applying for additional credit? A year? Until the last of your baddies drop off? Whatever your goal, we're here to support you. If you feel the "app-itch" coming on, let us know and we'll try to help you through it.
Now, if you happen to leave the garden prematurely, that’s your decision and we respect that. You are always welcome to come back, pick up your gardening tools and start over again. But please, celebrate any approvals on another thread. While we are happy with members’ success stories, we really do want to keep this thread’s focus and tone to be consistent with gardening efforts. You are certainly welcome to celebrate soft CLIs on this thread, though, as they do not involve inqs or apps for new credit.
GARDEN CLUB CHALLENGE AND RECOGNITIONS:
Garden Club Challenge: Pick a firm date for staying in the garden and post it in your siggy!
Garden Club recognition levels: To qualify, your reports must contain:
You will be able to add the following to your siggy if you have abided by the above for the following time periods...
Less than 1 month - seedling
1 month - bronze spade
3 months - silver spade
6 months - gold spade
12 months - platinum spade
24 months or more - diamond spade
Please note: recognition levels reset once you add an account or incur a HP. We recognize that there may be very good reasons for "leaving the garden," and we respect whatever thoughtful decisions members make. As stated previously, members are always welcome to come back, grab their gloves and start gardening once more.
I'd like to express my appreciation to DaveSignal for coming up with some spade graphics that you can embed in your siggy in order to display your status. Thanks, DS -- great job!!!
Seedling:
<img src="http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/2546iB18EF7FE7143CFD1/image-size/large?v=m..." border="0" width="75" height="100" align="right">
Bronze:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/LEYWe.png" border="0" width="40" height="40" align="right">
SIlver:
line to put at top of sig:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/Gfc4B.png" border="0" width="40" height="40" align="right">
Gold:
line to put at top of sig:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/24xvV.png" border="0" width="40" height="40" align="right">
Platinum:
line to put at top of sig:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/vVRv5.png" border="0" alt="" title="" width="120" height="80" align="right" />
Diamond:
line to put at top of sig:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/40nIa.png" border="0" alt="" title="" width="40" height="40" align="right" />
So, how's everyone's garden doing this month? Please feel free to mix and mingle, and share your gardening goals as well as your progress on the journey.
I'm in!
Still waiting on the new CSP to hit the CRAs, and will surely take a FICO hit for that - otherwise just hanging out. I'm trying to think of ways to achieve the $3000 spend in 90 days requirement so I'll get my 40,000 points.
I can do it, but it just means that I will have to extend my payoff plan a little longer (I've been obsessive with paying off revolving debt this year, and I don't like the idea of getting off track), but I'm going to have to do it if I want the points. I have everything transferred to 0% BT cards now anyway, so I'm paying no interest on my remaining CC debt ($8,000 left - down from $25,000 at the beginning of the year).
I will also pick up a bronze spade on 10/16, so life is good...
@LS2982 wrote:
I'm still here, waiting to pick my bronze spade back up!
My BT took too long to report and now I'm stuck with an extra 4k in false debt for the month
That sucks man that nothing could be done!
Still gardening... Hoping to make it back to bronze again!
I am still in the process of refinancing my rental property. Plan on apping for a new car loan in Nov or Dec. My # of inquiries have gone from 18+ down to 8-9... Gardening is great!
Still here and sticking with the plan of no apps til January. I expect a bronze spade this month!
It's about time I settle in here for some time
Time to sit back and watch the fruits of my labor (it takes a lot to fill out CC apps ) grow my scores! Happy to be here for the first time ever. A virgin gardener has emerged!
Still in the garden, expect to be untill January, keep debating about APing then, 38k in total CL is enough, but I would like a CSP card.
Still app free. Awaiting a possible PC with Cap One