Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

[CorporalCaptain]

I'm so flippin' bored with gardening right now.

I'm not applying for anything right now because I want to buy a house at the end of summer and don't need any fresh inquiries on my reports.

As it is, there will be 3 EX (0 < 6 months, 1 < year, 2 > year), 5 EQ (0 < 6 months, 1 < year, 4 > year), and 0 TU.

I feel like I'm missing out on some good deals right now but getting a house is the goal, so I have to not apply for anything right now.

So, except for the inquiries, the rest of my reports are in good shape and I shouldn't have a problem getting a mortgage with good terms.

Oldest Account = 17 years

AAoA = 6.9 years

USAA MC $0/$8,000 (PIF)

USAA Amex $0/9,000 (PIF)

Amex SPG $0/10,000 (PIF)

Scores in my signature.

[tntexans72]

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@Icewave76 wrote:

I'm so flippin' bored with gardening right now.

I'm not applying for anything right now because I want to buy a house at the end of summer and don't need any fresh inquiries on my reports.

As it is, there will be 3 EX (0 < 6 months, 1 < year, 2 > year), 5 EQ (0 < 6 months, 1 < year, 4 > year), and 0 TU.

I feel like I'm missing out on some good deals right now but getting a house is the goal, so I have to not apply for anything right now.

So, except for the inquiries, the rest of my reports are in good shape and I shouldn't have a problem getting a mortgage with good terms.

Oldest Account = 17 years

AAoA = 6.9 years

USAA MC $0/$8,000 (PIF)

USAA Amex $0/9,000 (PIF)

Amex SPG $0/10,000 (PIF)

Scores in my signature.

---

The Lenders gonna drool over your CR.

[tinuviel]

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@tntexans72 wrote:

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@Icewave76 wrote:

I'm so flippin' bored with gardening right now.

I'm not applying for anything right now because I want to buy a house at the end of summer and don't need any fresh inquiries on my reports.

As it is, there will be 3 EX (0 < 6 months, 1 < year, 2 > year), 5 EQ (0 < 6 months, 1 < year, 4 > year), and 0 TU.

I feel like I'm missing out on some good deals right now but getting a house is the goal, so I have to not apply for anything right now.

So, except for the inquiries, the rest of my reports are in good shape and I shouldn't have a problem getting a mortgage with good terms.

Oldest Account = 17 years

AAoA = 6.9 years

USAA MC $0/$8,000 (PIF)

USAA Amex $0/9,000 (PIF)

Amex SPG $0/10,000 (PIF)

Scores in my signature.

---

The Lenders gonna drool over your CR.

---

+1!

[JRomulus]

Nice work everyone.  I like this thread, good to recommit with each new month.

In the past 6 months DW and I have paid off enough debt that we are paying $1000 less in interest per month. (Util was greater than 70%).  Which only makes paying off the rest SO much easier.  It's kind of like getting a rock to start rolling down hill, once you get started, you do pick up momentum and it gets easier.

So with 10 credit cards, 1 Amex charge and 9 store cards, I think that's probably enough plastic for now..

Total hard inquiries are 19 (TU 8, EQ 6, EX 5) and one year from today it will only be 8.  Sadly, when I was buying a car 1 year ago, I mistakenly let two dealers do hard pulls, and between them and lender cost me 6 hard inquiries in the space of 2 days.  Ouch.  But learned my lesson.

Yes, all my CRA records are now frozen, best $30 I ever spent.

Focusing on gardening and weeding out unproductive cards (especially those that won't grant me credit limit increases or have no rewards) or expensive cards (anything that has an AF but isn't really serving a purpose any more, or has a high APR).  My last Experian hard inq on 5/25 was for a Continental Airline Mastercard from Chase; was denied...reason? I had already gotten a Chase Quicken Visa (that's another story)  from them during the past 6 months and Chase says only 1 new card per 6 months.  Recon'd and... approved.  (Never would have been approved with 70% UTIL now would I ??)

So got something out of my last app for a year!  So 2 new credit cards to report in June with zero balances (Amex Hilton Honors @ $3500 and Chase Continental @ $ ?.

Means that I can weed something out, right?? (I don't have an AAoA issue).

So my Lowes card  ($1330 low limit, no CLI for 5 years) almost got cut up yesterday, but for kicks pressed the CLI link on Lowes website and voila, new limit $3350.  OK, Lowes, I will keep you now.

Meantime just used those Amex Hilton Honors bonus points to stay at the Niagra Falls Embassy Suites with family on July 4th!

Have a good June everyone!

[android01]

I had a relapse in May.  I got a pre-approval from Ameriprise, where I have a retirement account, for their World Mastercard.   It has great rewards, and a 9.24% interest rate.  I was approved with a $25,000 CL, which matched my highest CL.  I really MUST garden now because I'm discovering that I'm applying for cards for no other purpose than to have them.  The sign of a true addict!  

[JRomulus]

Wow, Android, that would have been hard for anyone to pass up.  (And nice CL).   I still do not have an APR that low.

But, my time will come (thinking about USAA Mastercard in 1 year), and low APR's really don't mean anything if you PIF every month......

[tinuviel]

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@JRomulus wrote:

Nice work everyone.  I like this thread, good to recommit with each new month.

In the past 6 months DW and I have paid off enough debt that we are paying $1000 less in interest per month. (Util was greater than 70%).  Which only makes paying off the rest SO much easier.  It's kind of like getting a rock to start rolling down hill, once you get started, you do pick up momentum and it gets easier.

So with 10 credit cards, 1 Amex charge and 9 store cards, I think that's probably enough plastic for now..

Total hard inquiries are 19 (TU 8, EQ 6, EX 5) and one year from today it will only be 8.  Sadly, when I was buying a car 1 year ago, I mistakenly let two dealers do hard pulls, and between them and lender cost me 6 hard inquiries in the space of 2 days.  Ouch.  But learned my lesson.

Yes, all my CRA records are now frozen, best $30 I ever spent.

Focusing on gardening and weeding out unproductive cards (especially those that won't grant me credit limit increases or have no rewards) or expensive cards (anything that has an AF but isn't really serving a purpose any more, or has a high APR).  My last Experian hard inq on 5/25 was for a Continental Airline Mastercard from Chase; was denied...reason? I had already gotten a Chase Quicken Visa (that's another story)  from them during the past 6 months and Chase says only 1 new card per 6 months.  Recon'd and... approved.  (Never would have been approved with 70% UTIL now would I ??)

@Anonymous got something out of my last app for a year!  So 2 new credit cards to report in June with zero balances (Amex Hilton Honors @ $3500 and Chase Continental @ $ ?.

Means that I can weed something out, right?? (I don't have an AAoA issue).

So my Lowes card  ($1330 low limit, no CLI for 5 years) almost got cut up yesterday, but for kicks pressed the CLI link on Lowes website and voila, new limit $3350.  OK, Lowes, I will keep you now.

Meantime just used those Amex Hilton Honors bonus points to stay at the Niagra Falls Embassy Suites with family on July 4th!

Have a good June everyone!

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Good decision. As an FYI, your Lowe's card will get you 5% off at the register, so you may consider it well worth keeping.

[tinuviel]

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@android01 wrote:

I had a relapse in May.  I got a pre-approval from Ameriprise, where I have a retirement account, for their World Mastercard.   It has great rewards, and a 9.24% interest rate.  I was approved with a $25,000 CL, which matched my highest CL.  I really MUST garden now because I'm discovering that I'm applying for cards for no other purpose than to have them.  The sign of a true addict!  

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Congrats! Well worth it!

[Anonymous]

Checking in 1 week later. How's everybody doing? My trigger finger is getting itchy. This is tough! But I'm hanging in there so far.

[tinuviel]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Checking in 1 week later. How's everybody doing? My trigger finger is getting itchy. This is tough! But I'm hanging in there so far.

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I'm hanging in there, as well. I'm mostly focused on waiting for my backdated Amex to show up on my report. I'm bouncing off the walls to see what impact that has on my scores, and am really, really hoping that it reports the backdating correctly. I've read that Amex is slow to report, so I could be playing the waiting game for a while.

Keep fingers off the button! Step away from the keyboard and/or mouse! I know it's tough -- there's a card that I want really, really badly -- but we need to give our TLs time to grow and report favorably. Then, we'll be in much better position to be approved for future cards. Patience...