@Anonymous wrote:
Ok so love this place, great advice and I read so much on here daily. So I want everyone's thoughts. So I have a Capital One Quick Silver $800CL, a Capital One Platinum $500, a JCREW store card $250 & and Buckle Card $250. Scores are Ex 617, TU 600 & Ex is 607 I believe it said. Clearly I think I need to garden for a while. But how long should I garden? I would love a Discover or just a Prime Card some day. I know I'm a ways off and that's ok. Oh my Util is 6% of a total available credit. All cards have zero balance except my QS. I use it heavily and pay off in like 3 payments a month.
Hi Br3tt.
Since I started rebuilding, the longest I have been able to garden is 6 months. A year would make most INQs less relevant and improve your AAoA. Two years is ideal. I guess the main question is whether all your baddies are gone. I have 1 paid collection left on my report. Since there are always good cards to apply for, I decided to freeze my reports. Since I have to pay to unfreeze them, it'll give me pause for thought on whether I want to do this or not. 16 months ago, I wouldn't have thought that I would be where I am now. The good part about gardening is that you can still go after CLIs while allowing your score to grow. I started out with JCrew at $350; it is now at $13350 in 15 months. Discover is all over the place in regards to approvals, so there is no specific formula with them. I got my first Amex at 660 EX. Barclays at about 650 TU. Think I'm blacklisted from Citi CCs, but not their store cards. Chase has 5/24 rule, so it would be 05/18 before I could apply for one. I'm pretty satisfied with my current approvals; only thing I want to add is a PenFed card or two and won't try again with them until December since they consider me an Egyptian. Whatever you decide will be the right choice for you. 