Hello, fellow credit gardeners! It's a new month, so it's time for a new thread. If you're currently holding off from apping and are sitting back and letting your current accounts age, then this is the thread for you. Please feel free to come here and share with everyone where you're at in your gardening efforts.
I'm pleased to say that I got a bit of a score boost last month due to aging and inqs hitting the one year mark -- a 12 point boost on EQ and a 15 point poost on TU. I should have another pair of inqs hitting the one year mark on EQ and TU later this month, so it will be interesting to see if I get another boost later this month.
Util is currently at $0 revolving. I have my Amex statement balance showing, but that's it. Interestingly, I did not receive a score ding for the $0 revolving balance. I may decide to allow a small balance to report on something later this month just to see what happens.
I intended to drop First Premier last month, but realized that my AF doesn't come up again until this month. I paid last years AF up front, so I want to squeeze every drop of reporting out of them. So, it will be bye-bye for them this month.
There's a BoA card that I really, really want to add to my portfolio. I've decided to wait until November to apply. By then, an inq from last year will no longer factor into my EX score and I'll have just a little more aging on my current accounts. So, I'm sitting tight until then.
DH just got approved for a Discover card this morning, so I got to satifsy my app itch vicariously, LOL!!! I'm very happy for him. 
So, how's everyone else doing? Please share!
Starting Scores for 2013: EQ 723, TU 735, EX Credit Sesame 751
Current Scores: EQ 733, TU 724 (05/01/2013), EX Credit Sesame 725 (05/08/2013)
Goal Score: 740+ FICO scores
Take the FICO Fitness Challenge Bronze Spade Garden Club Member - Last App: 03/04/2013 - No apps until Fall 2013
Cards: Cap1 Venture 6.4k, Cap1 NHCR MC 750, BankAmericard 1-2-3 Visa Signature - UCF Alumni Association 5k, Discover 4k, Citi Diamond Preferred MC 7.55k, Wells Fargo Rewards Visa 7k, Chase Freedom 5k, Chase Ink 7.5k, Amex Green NPSL, Dillard's Amex 7.5k, JC Penney 4.2k, Kay Jeweler's 5.1k
I've been tempted lately. My work travel has started to increase so I think it would be worthwhile to have an Amex Platinum. However, I want to apply for a new mortgage in March so I am telling myself not to apply for the Amex until then. I almost applied last night and had to remind myself that the mortgage is way more important.
I currently have 0 inquiries on TU. 1 inquiry on EQ from 11/2010. I have three on EX, one from 10/2010, one from 4/2011 and one from 6/2011. If I were to add the Amex Plat, it would be backdated to 1998 so it wouldn't show as a new account. But it's probably still best not to have an additional inquiry. I can just apply after we buy our new house around March.
Starting Score: ~500 (12/01/2008)
It's hard to watch that itchy app finger. It's been since August 5th since my last app. To pass the time so far I came up with a credit pulls database of my own, color-coded of couse. That way I can see who I app'd with, who they pulled, and why they denied me or how much I was approved for. Sadly, there's a lot of red on there! I decided to do that once inquiries suddenly started disappearing , that way I'd have a record so I know who to hit up for my next app, when I get there.
I will be gardening this month. The only itch I'm trying to decide whether to scratch is the BofA Signature Cash Rewards. I just got approved for AmEx BCP $19300 CL and want to wait until it reports so BofA can see the CL and whatever bump it gives my FICO. It's backdated to 2002 so BofA won't see it as new credit, right? Should I wait another 6 months just to be safe (and perhaps get a CLI in the meantime?) After that I should be in perma-garden with 4 cards.
I was recently approved for an Amex Blue Cash Preferred and Chase Freedom, so I am back to the garden for a while! (I have a relatively short CS, so it will take a while before I get back to where I was.) The only temptation is to look into refinancing my home mortgage -- sure enough, the lender called me the day after I had been approved for the CCs, I still have to call him back...
The plan is to continue gardening all through September.
Collections should be deleted this month, so hopefully that will indeed go through. CA was supposed to "update" their records, marking my account for deletion, on Sept 1, so I have to wait for the CRA's to update. Also wanting to let my cards age a bit since I'm new to credit and all of my cards (3) are less than a year old, plus my Cap1 should be getting a CLI via the "credit steps" sometime this month.
At the end of September I will evaluate my CR and scores and see where I'm at. If the baddie is gone and I have decent scores, I'm going to try and go for Discover Student or Citi Forward for college students. If it doesn't look that great, I will continue gardening through October....at least, that's the plan!
Definitely hard to suppress the urge. I'm so impatient!
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