Garden Club Meeting for October 2011

[tcbofade]

You're welcome.

It's been ten years or better since I looked into SBA...if memory serves, the biggest obstacle to obtaining financing is proving profitability, not colateral.  If you've got an 11 year history (as a business) and are steadily profitable, you should be able to secure financing based on your track record.

Good luck to ya!

[Anonymous]

I just picked up my pink watering can and matching gloves by the front door! Thanks by the way!

This is my first month of gardening. After working on repairing my credit over the past year, I fulfilled my credit card goals:

Amex Green (02/2011) backdated to 02/1971 - thanks dad's generous AU which is older than me!

NFCU cashrewards Visa (03/2011) - 15k limit ($1900 balance)

Discover More (07/2011) - 3k limit ($52 balance)

Banana Republic Visa (09/2011) - 2.5k limit ($78 balance)

Will have all paid in full by this year's end!

[Anonymous]

first month of real gardening for me. no more apps, and i have all the cards i need to build my credit. now the tough part to wait about 12+ months till my inquiries fall off, and my AAoA improves, and my scores move up a lot. then ill be looking to try for the citi forward in maybe december of next year.

cap1 $300 7/11

amazon store card $400 9/11

BoA secured $1500 10/11

hopefully i get some CLIs over the next year and then ill be pumped to apply for a new card or two when i have some decent credit scores and history.

[Anonymous]

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@jla84 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Penfed is the way to go. They have great products to choose from and pull EQ exclusively. They might do small financial review (paystub,tax return) to give you appropriate limit.

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Thanks for the tip! Just called and set up membership along with apped for their Travel Rewards card with AmEx. Might be a bit of a stretch for me, but I figured if they only pull EQ, the hit won't be so bad (only have 1 inq on EQ). 

ETA: Wasn't an instant approval, but I did call at 11pm (I assume the loan dept is closed right now), and the very nice CSR told me that was "completely normal" and I should have a decision within 24-48 hours. Eek!

Guess I'm officially out of Garden mode for now. lol

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Good Luck. Let me know how it goes. Usually for first timer, in about 2 business days they will respond by requesting for more financial document like paystubs,W2 for regulars or tax return if self-employed. The Amex reward is the hardest to get approved for because it requires minimum credit line of $5000 but if you get declined you can still applying for another easier product and they use the same EQ pull for 30 days.   

[jla84]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Good Luck. Let me know how it goes. Usually for first timer, in about 2 business days they will respond by requesting for more financial document like paystubs,W2 for regulars or tax return if self-employed. The Amex reward is the hardest to get approved for because it requires minimum credit line of $5000 but if you get declined you can still applying for another easier product and they use the same EQ pull for 30 days.   

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Thanks for the insight. I'm about 70% expecting to be denied if only because my only open CC is a $500 CL. But like I said, I only had 1 inq on EQ and everything else on that report is clean as a whistle, so I took a shot. 

I did notice that on the pending applications the "loan" amount was listed as $9,600, but I figured that is probably the max they would consider me for, and believe me, I would be very very happy with less.

The travel rewards is the one that I really wanted because I don't have any use for 5% back for gas (I live in NYC and don't have a car!). Any recommendations for other PenFed cards I should look at?

I'll keep everyone updated with how it goes. 

[Anonymous]

I saw most with fico higher than 770 got approved so you might have a chance.

[CS800]

Just added a Discover More to my app and approved for $6500..Gardening mode for me for the next 12 month

[drkaje]

Walmart almost got me, LOL!

Aside from the free TU score there's a spend $100 (today at walmart.com) and get $20 back.

I do sorta want the TU score, though.

Deep breaths, Jake. Deep breaths, LOL!

[Anonymous]

I promised myself after applying and being approved for the Blue Cash Preferred I would garden garden garden, but I REALLY want to app for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, someone please come take my phone and computer away from me LOL!!!!

I mean it wont hurt my AAoA's since all 3 of my AmEx's are backdated to 91 and my 4th AmEx I'm AU on is listed on my reports as opened in 84, but my EQ just got into the 790's and I don't want the inq, because I'm pretty sure that will put me right back to a 783 where I was 2 weeks ago when an inq hit the year mark causing my EQ FICO to jump to 794. And I'm also assuming Chase will hit EQ, can't they just give me the card without pulling my reports LOLOLOL!!!

[jla84]

This month I was approved for AmEx Zync and Discover Miles. Still waiting to hear from PenFed for the Travel Rewards with AmEx card (applied after I thought I was declined for Discover Miles lol). Even if I don't get the PenFed card, my AoAA will still drop considerably after AmEX and Discover post, so I'm set to gardening for a few months! 

So now the open cards I have are:

Cap 1 $500 CL (will increase to $750 in Feb *rolls eyes*)

WFNNB/Lane Bryant $100 CL

AmEx Zync (NPSL)

Discover Miles (don't know my CL but the default balance exceeds alert is for $2700 so I assume it's a little higher than that!)

ETA: I ended up approved (upon income verification) for PenFed for $5000! Looks like I'll be gardening these cards for awhile! I had planned to app for Citi Forward in Feb, but I think I might push it back to 6 months from now so that I show some nice activity on these cards. Citi Forward and AmEx BCE are the only other cards I really want.