Three Questions (About Secured Cards and Gardening)...

[Anonymous]

I have read a few topics over the past couple of weeks and I have a few questions about this "gardening" thing, and hence, some questions about credit cards approval in general.

(1) From what I gleaned, is the purpose of "gardening," to raise one's available total credit so that it gives the appearance of lower utilization to the credit reporting agencies?

(2) Because, I have between $36,000 and $44,000 in federal student loan debt (the former from Dept. of Ed./Nelnet, the latter from my Equifax report), is it possible and a good idea to offset the total available credit with revolving credit limits until I can start hammering away at those loans?

I'm not bad with saving money/ not spending money, my annual income is a little more than $30,000 and my monthly expenses are a tad more than half my monthly income (utility bills, insurance, cell, car loan payment). Therefore, I've been looking into secured cards as I probably wouldn't yet qualify for an unsecured card with a myFICO scores around 590, but, other than risk assessment, (3) are there other reasons the secured card applications ask for employment and income information?   

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have read a few topics over the past couple of weeks and I have a few questions about this "gardening" thing, and hence, some questions about credit cards approval in general.

(1) From what I gleaned, is the purpose of "gardening," to raise one's available total credit so that it gives the appearance of lower utilization to the credit reporting agencies? "Gardening" is a time period used to nurture new accounts into mature accounts, gernerally happening after opening new accounts.  Also during this time the "gardener" will not app for any new accounts.  What this does is show the creditor that the "gardener" is responsible and usually results in a CLI which changes the UTI numbers.  With a higher CL I can spend more money before receaching my 5% UTI limit.

(2) Because, I have between $36,000 and $44,000 in federal student loan debt (the former from Dept. of Ed./Nelnet, the latter from my Equifax report), is it possible and a good idea to offset the total available credit with revolving credit limits until I can start hammering away at those loans? Student loans are installment loans while cc's are revolving accounts.  Installment loans are not considered when calculating UTI, but revolving accounts are used when calculating DTI. 

I'm not bad with saving money/ not spending money, my annual income is a little more than $30,000 and my monthly expenses are a tad more than half my monthly income (utility bills, insurance, cell, car loan payment). Therefore, I've been looking into secured cards as I probably wouldn't yet qualify for an unsecured card with a myFICO scores around 590, but, other than risk assessment, (3) are there other reasons the secured card applications ask for employment and income information?  

Take a look at Cap1, they have a prequal on their website which is really goo at matching people with cards.  My wife was just approve for QS1 and has scores a touch lower than yours. 

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[SOGGIE]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have read a few topics over the past couple of weeks and I have a few questions about this "gardening" thing, and hence, some questions about credit cards approval in general.

(1) From what I gleaned, is the purpose of "gardening," to raise one's available total credit so that it gives the appearance of lower utilization to the credit reporting agencies? "Gardening" is a time period used to nurture new accounts into mature accounts, gernerally happening after opening new accounts.  Also during this time the "gardener" will not app for any new accounts.  What this does is show the creditor that the "gardener" is responsible and usually results in a CLI which changes the UTI numbers.  With a higher CL I can spend more money before receaching my 5% UTI limit.

(2) Because, I have between $36,000 and $44,000 in federal student loan debt (the former from Dept. of Ed./Nelnet, the latter from my Equifax report), is it possible and a good idea to offset the total available credit with revolving credit limits until I can start hammering away at those loans? Student loans are installment loans while cc's are revolving accounts.  Installment loans are not considered when calculating UTI, but revolving accounts are used when calculating DTI. 

I'm not bad with saving money/ not spending money, my annual income is a little more than $30,000 and my monthly expenses are a tad more than half my monthly income (utility bills, insurance, cell, car loan payment). Therefore, I've been looking into secured cards as I probably wouldn't yet qualify for an unsecured card with a myFICO scores around 590, but, other than risk assessment, (3) are there other reasons the secured card applications ask for employment and income information?  

Take a look at Cap1, they have a prequal on their website which is really goo at matching people with cards.  My wife was just approve for QS1 and has scores a touch lower than yours. 

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Very good response DirtPoor

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have read a few topics over the past couple of weeks and I have a few questions about this "gardening" thing, and hence, some questions about credit cards approval in general.

(1) From what I gleaned, is the purpose of "gardening," to raise one's available total credit so that it gives the appearance of lower utilization to the credit reporting agencies? "Gardening" is a time period used to nurture new accounts into mature accounts, gernerally happening after opening new accounts.  Also during this time the "gardener" will not app for any new accounts.  What this does is show the creditor that the "gardener" is responsible and usually results in a CLI which changes the UTI numbers.  With a higher CL I can spend more money before receaching my 5% UTI limit.

(2) Because, I have between $36,000 and $44,000 in federal student loan debt (the former from Dept. of Ed./Nelnet, the latter from my Equifax report), is it possible and a good idea to offset the total available credit with revolving credit limits until I can start hammering away at those loans? Student loans are installment loans while cc's are revolving accounts.  Installment loans are not considered when calculating UTI, but revolving accounts are used when calculating DTI. 

I'm not bad with saving money/ not spending money, my annual income is a little more than $30,000 and my monthly expenses are a tad more than half my monthly income (utility bills, insurance, cell, car loan payment). Therefore, I've been looking into secured cards as I probably wouldn't yet qualify for an unsecured card with a myFICO scores around 590, but, other than risk assessment, (3) are there other reasons the secured card applications ask for employment and income information?  

Take a look at Cap1, they have a prequal on their website which is really goo at matching people with cards.  My wife was just approve for QS1 and has scores a touch lower than yours. 

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I agree ..Very good response..