is it worth sticking with annual fees to garden?

[frankietown]

hey guys! man of man these past few days have been crazy learning experience

here is my history:

usbank college: 300 - feb 2013

boa partial secured: 500 - april 2013

usbank cash rewards - failed (april 2013) - this one im soooo pissed about, stupid guy apped me when i said no thank you when i got offered

cap one: 500 - july 2013

discover it: failed - july 2013 - my first recon she said they don't reconsider.. should i try again?

bestbuy: failed july 2013 - this was compulsive and a mistake and i have not tried reconning.

CLI usbank college: july 2013 pending

so it is safe to say that i am stopping apping now and just start to garden what i have. i didnt know about utilization and have been charging up the wall and paying off when its due... i feel terrible i wasted 5 months doing that. so now i paid off my boa, gonna pay off my usbank to have ~9% util, and then just sit on the cap one. my new strategy is just garden for awhile rotating one card a month only the 1-9% util and be a good boy. this is no problem with me as i have pretty good programmers income

anyway my question is about annual fees. my boa and cap1 have both annual fees, $39 and $19 respectively. the boa ive paid, but should i keep paying? and the cap1 it is free first year and only $19 second year so i guess i can sit on it for 2 years. but when does it get to the point that the annual fees aren't worth it anymore? if they are worth it, how long should i keep paying them for it to be worth it?

i want to garden for my goal cards: discover it, amex bce and chase freedom. how long should i sit and garden for? i was thinking no applications till my birthday next year oct 2014. so thats a little over a year, which is going to be definitely tricky, but what minimum wait time should i do if those 3 are my goal cards?

thanks guys and thank you for being so informative. man.. how bad would my credit score have been if i just kept maxing and paying it off lol..

[ElleC]

You should check your credit report and FICO score every so often to see where you're at and then don't apply again until you see a major improvement. If you're just starting out or recovering from bad credit, the annual fees are a small price to pay to get on the right track. Time will help!

[Kutuzov]

The first cc I got was a secure Boa cc, then I only applied to no AF cc. After the reccession my credit got a big hit, and I did get an AF cc, that I closed a year later when the AF was gonna hit.

Creditors like accounts with at least 1 year history, you got some cc if the fees are not in the sky category paying the a few not crazy AF is worth it, then in a year you move on.

[frankietown]

i see. so as long as i have done well with the time i have with them, its okay only having them for one year to skip out on any annual fees?

[LS2982]

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@frankietown wrote:

hey guys! man of man these past few days have been crazy learning experience

here is my history:

usbank college: 300 - feb 2013

boa partial secured: 500 - april 2013

usbank cash rewards - failed (april 2013) - this one im soooo pissed about, stupid guy apped me when i said no thank you when i got offered

cap one: 500 - july 2013

discover it: failed - july 2013 - my first recon she said they don't reconsider.. should i try again?

bestbuy: failed july 2013 - this was compulsive and a mistake and i have not tried reconning.

CLI usbank college: july 2013 pending

so it is safe to say that i am stopping apping now and just start to garden what i have. i didnt know about utilization and have been charging up the wall and paying off when its due... i feel terrible i wasted 5 months doing that. so now i paid off my boa, gonna pay off my usbank to have ~9% util, and then just sit on the cap one. my new strategy is just garden for awhile rotating one card a month only the 1-9% util and be a good boy. this is no problem with me as i have pretty good programmers income

anyway my question is about annual fees. my boa and cap1 have both annual fees, $39 and $19 respectively. the boa ive paid, but should i keep paying? and the cap1 it is free first year and only $19 second year so i guess i can sit on it for 2 years. but when does it get to the point that the annual fees aren't worth it anymore? if they are worth it, how long should i keep paying them for it to be worth it?

i want to garden for my goal cards: discover it, amex bce and chase freedom. how long should i sit and garden for? i was thinking no applications till my birthday next year oct 2014. so thats a little over a year, which is going to be definitely tricky, but what minimum wait time should i do if those 3 are my goal cards?

thanks guys and thank you for being so informative. man.. how bad would my credit score have been if i just kept maxing and paying it off lol..

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Its definitely time to leave the apps alone and Garden for at least 6-12 months.

[Exonumist]

You've got a few cards now and the only thing to do is GARDEN. Time and positive reporting are the only things that matter. Something that I have done to keep myself from apping is actually letting cards report with higher then ideal utilization. Nothing crazy, but over 10% or multiple cards. If I know I stand less of a chance for approval I won't bother. The amount of time that you keep the cards with the annual fees is going to depend on your goals. Are you wanting to get a mortgage? Auto loan? Just build your credit in general?