How long to garden?

Anonymous · ‎12-23-2015

I just got approved for Quicksilver for $3k and Venture for $10k. I have a $3,000 secured card from Capital One.

I'm still going to go for the Open Sky secured card for $300, because I want at least 3 cards and that one won't have a hard pull. Also, I am trying to become a member of SDFCU and get a $500 secured intallment loan for 36 months. That's because I want to buy a house in 2+ years and my closed installment loans are starting to fall off my report.

I want the deposit back on my $3k secured card, but I'll probably wait at least 3 months so I don't have 3 new cards at the same time with no old cards.

I am just about meeting my goals of having 3 cards, with 2 being unsecured and getting an installment loan. I'm happy with my CapOne credit limits.

So my next steps after gardening will be to get one more unsecured card and possibly increasing the credit limits on the CapOne cards.

My goal for FICO scores are to got from about 675 currently to 700, then to 740+ eventually. I'm trying to be agressive but smart with this.

Should I garden for 6 months or 1 year, before applying for another card?

Anonymous · ‎12-24-2015

In my opinion, there are two ways you can approach this:

1. You can decide on a goal card or two and wait until you receive pre-qual offers for those cards before applying for anything. The timeframe isn't as definite this way, but it ensures that you aren't aimlessly applying for cards that don't help you maximize return based on your levels of spend. Better to apply for the best cards you can get, and not just another card just to have more credit, imho.

2. If you just want to have another card, I would give it six months, open a new card, and then close the secured card. But honestly, with your scores, if you just want a third card reporting you could probably get approved for the Barclays Rewards Mastercard, and then follow the advice outlined in the first point. This way, you could close the secured card now (or still wait) because it will still report as a positive tradeline for the next 10 years, meaning your AAoA wouldn't really take a hit because of the account closure. Just food for thought.

Either way, you're in a really good position moving forward!

Anonymous · ‎12-24-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
In my opinion, there are two ways you can approach this:

1. You can decide on a goal card or two and wait until you receive pre-qual offers for those cards before applying for anything. The timeframe isn't as definite this way, but it ensures that you aren't aimlessly applying for cards that don't help you maximize return based on your levels of spend. Better to apply for the best cards you can get, and not just another card just to have more credit, imho.

2. If you just want to have another card, I would give it six months, open a new card, and then close the secured card. But honestly, with your scores, if you just want a third card reporting you could probably get approved for the Barclays Rewards Mastercard, and then follow the advice outlined in the first point. This way, you could close the secured card now (or still wait) because it will still report as a positive tradeline for the next 10 years, meaning your AAoA wouldn't really take a hit because of the account closure. Just food for thought.

Either way, you're in a really good position moving forward!

Thanks, That gives me something to think about. I applied for Barclays and got denied a couple weeks ago. That's why I am holding back on applying for any more that will pull a credit report. For now, I want to see my scores improve as the new cards report. But yeah, I should look into what better cards I might want in the future, rather than just trying to get any new unsecured card.

Anonymous · ‎12-24-2015

I got my one and only card (the CapOne Secured card) Nov 2013. No other active credit. My score 5 months after getting that card is nearly the same as it is today, 1 yr and 8 months later. That's with my report otherwise being almost identical. It seems that nearly all of the point increase from that card was gotten in the first 5 months. So that leads me to believe something similar will happen with the new cards. I can garden for about 6 months, but after that, my scores will platueau.

Anonymous · ‎12-24-2015

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Rebuilding-Your-Credit/Barclay-card-denial/m-p/4355895

Read over my thread about being denied Barclay card. Maybe you can have some good luck with a recon? Good luck

Anonymous · ‎12-27-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
I just got approved for Quicksilver for $3k and Venture for $10k. I have a $3,000 secured card from Capital One.

I'm still going to go for the Open Sky secured card for $300, because I want at least 3 cards and that one won't have a hard pull. Also, I am trying to become a member of SDFCU and get a $500 secured intallment loan for 36 months. That's because I want to buy a house in 2+ years and my closed installment loans are starting to fall off my report.

I want the deposit back on my $3k secured card, but I'll probably wait at least 3 months so I don't have 3 new cards at the same time with no old cards.

I am just about meeting my goals of having 3 cards, with 2 being unsecured and getting an installment loan. I'm happy with my CapOne credit limits.

So my next steps after gardening will be to get one more unsecured card and possibly increasing the credit limits on the CapOne cards.

My goal for FICO scores are to got from about 675 currently to 700, then to 740+ eventually. I'm trying to be agressive but smart with this.

Should I garden for 6 months or 1 year, before applying for another card?

Your scores are clearly good enough that you need not use secured cards - parcticularly a subprime secured card. You could get a second QS card or a second Venture card easily. Discover as well, would be pretty solid approval. Get something that will grow with you, not a subprime starter card.

Anonymous · ‎12-27-2015

Did you call and recon barclay? I had a 605 TU score and applied, got denied, called the same day and apporved for $500. the day after i applied for the barclay apple rewards and got instantly approved for $1,500