Garden Club Meeting for October 2011

[Anonymous]

Until this month, I'd been in garden mode for almost a year.  I last applied for a card in November 2010 and sat on my hands until now, when I got a new job that will require me to commute every day - so I needed to buy a car.  I ended up getting a really nice deal on a new 2011 Jeep Patriot, which was exactly what I wanted (yay!) with 4.5% financing.  Now I'm definitely in garden mode again to let my scores recover from the inquiries and new account.  I do have one other inquiry from April, from a rental application for my new apartment.  I anticipate one or two more in the coming months as I look for a place closer to my new job - bleh.  I hate inquiries from unavoidable stuff like that!

My garden is:

AMEX Zync - no preset limit

Discover More - $4000

Barclay's Apple Financing Visa - $4250 (newly increased from $1700 - thanks, Barclay's!)

Orchard Bank - $700 (will probably close this when the annual fee is due in February)

Lord & Taylor - $3340

Banana Republic - $1300 (newly increased from $1000)

Macy's - ??? limit.  So annoying that they won't give a limit - I haven't used this card in months because I'm afraid they'll pull my credit and give me a needless inq.

Ann Taylor - $300

I'm itching for an Amazon card or the Amazon rewards card because I'm a Kindle user and buy books there almost exclusively, but I don't NEED it, so I'll be a good girl and wait. 

[UFGuy2006]

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@UFGuy2006 wrote:
Fell off the wagon and apped for the United Mileage Plus (60k sign up bonus for elite, primary car rental coverage) and the Cap 1 Cash Rewards (1.5 % cash back and no FTF to replace my old schwab). Chase hit with 2 inq (tu and ex) and of course cap 1 hit all three.... Chase approved with 16k limit; Cap one stated in review and will hear back in 7-10 days. Hoping the cap 1 is approved but if not its still a decent result. NOW back to the garden!!!!

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Okay, so the Cap1 was approved with a range CL of 5-20k (they could not determine until the account is created what the actual limit is). Either way, I have my schwab replacement. Now time to seriously garden to let these inquiries AGE...from the last 2 years: EQ 13; EX 10; TU: 10. 

[Anonymous]

Hey All,

I'm a little late to join in, but I think it's time for me to join the garden club for the next 6-12 months. I turned 21 this year and after spending nearly 3 years with only a measly $300 Cap1 card, I went on a couple apping sprees this year and I think its time to sit back and get my AAOA up, my UTIL down, and for some INQs to fall off...

This year, I've added (in addition to Cap1 Platinum-$300)

Capital One No Hassle Rewards-$500

First Premier (Scary, can't wait to get rid of this card!)-$700

HSBC Best Buy Reward Zone- $300

WFNNB J Crew (Store Only)- $250

GEMB WalMart (Store Only)- $500

Also,

Financed a new car at ~$23k, 3.9% from Ford Motor Credit

Financed a 2 year old CPO at ~$22k, 5.9% from Ford Motor Credit

So, since this was a whole lot of additions, I think its time to start gardening!

[Smug]

Ok. Time to garden just added Barclays 5k, PSECU 5k,Zync, and discover more and Boa Amex to the store cards,so gardening for a few years .....

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately had to buy four new tires yesterday.  It's going to cost over $1000 once I pay to have them put on and for an alignment. 

Thought I would app for BCE at the end of October, but it's looking like I'll have to wait until November, maybe December.

[LS2982]

Ya'll need to chain me down in here!!!! I've done good getting the cards I wanted I need to chill here for at least a year and let my sprouts get up out the ground!!!!

[drkaje]

I'm done for 7 months... unless a major bump in income drives down utilization. 

In the meantime; plan the work, work the plan.

[shorrttyycm1]

+1...someone get the ropes!!!  I have been app'ing for things I don't even need..or really want!  I think its the rush!  Anyhow, I app'd for capital one journey card as it has no annual fee and 8.49 interest rate....APPROVED $1000.00 plus in credit steps so guaranteed at least a minimum $500.00 increase (could be more) by my 7th statement if I pay mins on time for 6 months.  I was so happy to get sort of a prime with a kinda good limit that I then app'd for Navy Fed credit card and was denied due to Bk (chpt 7 discharged 4/2011).  Still not done, I then app'd for a pre-qual offer I got in the mail from lending tree for a $5000.00 personal loan.  I have the cash for that I will just send them the cash when I receive the funds.  Question...Lending Tree rep says that they do not do more than 2 hard pulls...is this true??  I have heard horror stories of people's credit being pulled hundreds of times (of course I did not know that at the time of apping).  :-( 

[sheaoaurus]

Joining the October Garden Club! Just turned 21 and finished an app spree and will be sitting on my cards for at least the next 1.5 years.

Amex Zync - NPSL

Amex BCP - $2500

Chase Freedom - $2000

BOA 123 - $1200

GEMB Banana Visa - $2200

Citi - STILL IN RECON FROM LAST WEEK

Cap One - Stuck at $750

[Anonymous]

Sorry to bother you guys but you seem to be the only active forum on MyFICO. This belongs to business credit but they haven't talked to each other since 2009.

So here's the question:

I put $70,000 of business debt financing on my personal AMEX over 11 years. Actually two years ago, it was $92,000 but I paid down $22,000 in two years. Now that I understand a few things I didn't earlier, I'm trying to establish business credit.

In May I applied to my bank for a business CC tied to my business tax ID. Though my bank of 11 years gave me a good reference on my banking history, the CC company they work with said "no" because of the AMEX debt. In May, I had a FICO of 705. Now it is 690 because of that inquiery.

Now, my bank is recommending that I apply for a checking account credit line that would be collateralized by my receivables. I could then use that to gradually shift the AMEX biz debt over to the bank line. (Though my guess is the bank line wouldn't be more than $10k a month to start, still it would be lower interest and I could pay down the AMEX in $10K installments every other month (and pay the bank $5,000 each month).

Problem though is that there will still be a credit check of my personal credit by an independent something or other that is not the bank managers I deal with and who know me. So I'll get the same problem. Do you think I'm risking another drop in my FICO score because I will be applying for credit again? I frankly don't know what to do. I feel like I'm in indentured servitude like in the 18th Century.

Any ideas? Someone earlier said go to the SBA. I looked into it. I still have to establish a credit history with a bank (business credit history) and the loan actually comes from the bank with an SBA guarantee. How the @#$#$%% do you build a history?