topic Re: Garden thread November 2014 in Credit Cards

Garden thread November 2014

tcbofade — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 20:45:21 GMT

Welcome GC'ers!

Let me be the first to welcome all new GCers, returning GCers and old timers to our little place in the sun. Here we socialize, commiserate and support each other while waiting for baddies to fall off, new accounts and/or inq's age or just want a place to hang out to get away from the hustle and bustle of credit card talk.

What is gardening? Quite simply, it involves refraining from applying for new credit or seeking CLIs that require hard pulls. Soft pulls CLIs, however, are not only acceptable, but are encouraged. The idea is to allow one's current TLs to grow and mature, waiting for inqs to age or fall off, and possibly waiting for "baddies" to be removed or age off. During this time, one tends to one's current accounts and watches their AAoA grow and the new credit ding fade.

So, if you're at the stage of your credit journey where you're ready to enter the garden, please come and join us. You may pick up your complimentary watering can and garden gloves by the front door -- you can even choose your favorite color! We're proud to offer a well appointed clubhouse. There is a snack table set up. The falling leaves of autumn may put a slight chill in the air. As you are radying for the trick-o-treaters, watching your favortie football team and/or the end of the baseball season, grab a sweater and enjoy the amenities.

We have a wide variety of snack and appetizers for everyone. Pizza, buffalo wings, grilled zucchini, 7-layer dip and apple pie ala mode. There's also a nice selection of cold beers and my new favorite, Lemon Drop Martini's. Once again, please feel free to bring and add anything that you'd like to add to the festivities. And, in the corner diagonally across from the front door, there is a fully stocked bar, along with a wide selection of soft drinks. If needed, there are some anti-itch medications stocked in our supply cabinet near the door -- Lanacaine, Benadryl, etc. If you need to place your reports in the deep freeze, we also have a freezer, located next to the bar, so go ahead and throw your reports in!

Our club features a Friday night social. This will be hosted by myjourney, who has done such a wonderful job with managing the buffet and bar. He will present a mouthwatering dinner menu (with graphics!) and announce a discussion topic. Everyone is welcome to hang out and either discuss the topic or anything else that comes to mind. Feel free to let kick up your heels for the evening! The goal of the Friday night social is to enjoy getting to know each other and share in some fun. I'd also like to give thanks to coldmn for providing hospitality and help to members both old and new. You'll always find comraderie available here as you work towards your gardening goals.

So come on in and make yourself comfortable. Make a gardening plan and commit to sticking with it! Are you planning to wait six months before applying for additional credit? A year? Until the last of your baddies drop off? Whatever your goal, we're here to support you. If you feel the "app-itch" coming on, let us know and we'll try to help you through it. We even have and Emergency Response Team (ERT) available to step in and help keep you on track!

Now, if you happen to leave the garden prematurely, that’s your decision and we respect that. You are always welcome to come back, pick up your gardening tools and start over again. But please, celebrate any approvals and the discussion of which credit card to app for on another thread. While we are happy with members’ success stories, we really do want to keep this thread’s focus and tone to be consistent with gardening efforts. You are certainly welcome to celebrate soft CLIs on this thread, though, as they do not involve inqs or apps for new credit.

GARDEN CLUB CHALLENGE AND RECOGNITIONS:

Garden Club Challenge: Pick a firm date for staying in the garden and post it in your siggy!

Garden Club recognition levels: To qualify, your reports must contain:

No new tradelines of any type on one's accounts (this includes backdated Amex accounts, as they are STILL new "seedlings").
No HPs for anything that would allow for the possibility of a new tradeline being issued or increasing the CL of an existing tradeline.

*The Garden Club community recognizes that certain inquiries are necessary for factors beyond those listed above. Therefore, Hard Pulls/Inquiries for the following bona fide reasons are exempt but not limited to: Opening checking/savings accounts (so long as no line of credit is being opened in addition to these accounts), Employment Applications, Apartment Rentals, Utilities and other such services. These are not considered to be applications for credit per se. Also, for those who are seeking a new mortgage or refinancing an existing one, we understand that your lender will pull your CRs multiple times before closing. For those GC'ers, the first hp will set your clock, not the subsequent pulls. However, if you are simply rate shopping, then the normal hp rules apply.

You will be able to add the following to your siggy if you have abided by the above for the following time periods...

Less than 1 month - seedling

1 month - bronze spade

3 months - silver spade

6 months - gold spade

9 months - palladium spade

12 months - platinum spade

15 months - ruby spade

18 months - emerald spade

21 months - sapphire spade

24 months or more - diamond spade

Please note: recognition levels reset once you add an account or incur a HP. We recognize that there may be very good reasons for "leaving the garden," and we respect whatever thoughtful decisions members make. As stated previously, members are always welcome to come back, grab their gloves and start gardening once more.

To ensure that your graphic comes out properly on your siggy, please be certain that it has been added as the very first line of code.

Seedling:
<img src="http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/2760iB9166C1A493A3CBC" border="0" width="50" height="67" align="right">

Bronze:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/LEYWe.png" border="0" width="40" height="40" align="right">

SIlver:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/Gfc4B.png" border="0" width="40" height="40" align="right">

Gold:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/24xvV.png" border="0" width="40" height="40" align="right">

Palladium:
<img src="http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/5761iE36E284CEECEA414" border="0" width="40" height="40" align="right">

Platinum:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/vVRv5.png" border="0" alt="" title="" width="120" height="80" align="right" />

Ruby:
<img src="http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/5625i09098E9833D7A4B2" border="0" width="40" height="40" align="right">

Emerald:

Sapphire:
<img src="http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/5627iA714E0C3C98AD3FD" border="0" width="40" height="40" align="right">

Diamond:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/40nIa.png" border="0" alt="" title="" width="40" height="40" align="right" />

So, please feel free to come on in and share your gardening progress. If you're new or returning, what are your goals? If you've been here for a while, how are things going? Let's all mingle, and support each other in our respective gardening efforts!

(Shamelessly stolen from the October thread, with apologies to Tinu, Lexie, and MJ!)

Y'all quit digging and start gardening!

tcbofade-

Thank you! I was under the weather last night and failed you all again. I appreciate this so much!

Lexie!

Re: Garden thread November 2014

One7 — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 14:33:40 GMT

It's been almost a month since my last INQ. This time I'm in for the long haul. Count me in for gardening.

Re: Garden thread November 2014

chalupaman — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 14:47:25 GMT

I've gone nearly two months without a new INQ on EX. Definitely gonna try to lay low for a little bit.

Re: Garden thread November 2014

lg8302ch — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 14:51:52 GMT

At the end of this month I should be loosing a few INQs ... looking forward to get these down to start new ones in 2015 ...that means two cards will have their 2 year anniversary ..lol

Re: Garden thread November 2014

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 14:54:17 GMT

In on page 1

Re: Garden thread November 2014

jsucool76 — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 14:56:00 GMT

Checking in.

Re: Garden thread November 2014

Anomalous — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 15:00:53 GMT

Checking in for November. Gardening my new accounts from September. Goal is one year.

Re: Garden thread November 2014

DigitalArk — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 15:07:45 GMT

Checking in for Nov.

Re: Garden thread November 2014

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 15:28:02 GMT

Checking in! Gardening since October 22, 2014.

Re: Garden thread November 2014

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 16:26:16 GMT

Checking in for November. I came to the garden 1 week ago today, October 25, and I plan to be here until at least May/2015. Woke up this morning to 40 degree weather here in GA, where'd the warm weather go??

Re: Garden thread November 2014

_sidhe_ — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 16:50:00 GMT

I'm still gardening (since 8/15/14, I think)! I'll be in the garden for the next two years, because I don't need another card or anyting else and want to see if I can get my scores over 800.

Since I've been in the garden, my scores are all over 700. My scores were in the mid to upper 600s at the beginning of the year, and I never would have believed that my scores would be over 700 by now. So, I am very grateful to all the help I've recieved here on the forums.

Re: Garden thread November 2014

Anomalous — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 16:49:17 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Checking in for November. I came to the garden 1 week ago today, October 25, and I plan to be here until at least May/2015. Woke up this morning to 40 degree weather here in GA, where'd the warm weather go??

I feel your pain. We broke winter records here in SC for snow in November!!?!

Re: Garden thread November 2014

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 16:49:29 GMT

Hello All! This is my first time gardening since I joined the forums and also began monitoring my credit on myFICO. Last month I added 10 new accounts in a rush before the only aged account (36 month auto loan, PIF and closed 9 years ago when I was 21) falls off. Now I am watching my new accounts post and waiting until all those inquiries fall off before I apply for anything else. So I look forward to trying to pass the app free time with all of you.

Re: Garden thread November 2014

_sidhe_ — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 16:51:41 GMT

@Anomalous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Checking in for November. I came to the garden 1 week ago today, October 25, and I plan to be here until at least May/2015. Woke up this morning to 40 degree weather here in GA, where'd the warm weather go??
I feel your pain. We broke winter records here in SC for snow in November!!?!

I woke up this morning, and it was 32 outside. I think the low for tonight is 28. At this rate, I'm hoping for a snow day this winter.

Re: Garden thread November 2014

Anomalous — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 16:54:21 GMT

@_sidhe_ wrote:
@Anomalous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Checking in for November. I came to the garden 1 week ago today, October 25, and I plan to be here until at least May/2015. Woke up this morning to 40 degree weather here in GA, where'd the warm weather go??
I feel your pain. We broke winter records here in SC for snow in November!!?!
I woke up this morning, and it was 32 outside. I think the low for tonight is 28. At this rate, I'm hoping for a snow day this winter.

Oh boy! That's too cold for me right now. Need the slow transition. Lol!

Re: Garden thread November 2014

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 16:59:22 GMT

@Anomalous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Checking in for November. I came to the garden 1 week ago today, October 25, and I plan to be here until at least May/2015. Woke up this morning to 40 degree weather here in GA, where'd the warm weather go??
I feel your pain. We broke winter records here in SC for snow in November!!?!

I saw that! Hopefully it's just a short stint instead of the start of an early, cold winter... To top it off, the Coke I just got in the checkout line while grocery shopping this morning has SANTA on it already! This is all just too much for me on the first day of November...

Re: Garden thread November 2014

Imperfectfuture — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 17:00:56 GMT

@jroc556 wrote:
In on page 1

Me too (only if you have the post display greater than 15).

Liking this new (well Apple refurbished) iPad, though it funked up a couple of mail boxes.

forgot, and posted in the other thread,

Re: Garden thread November 2014

Imperfectfuture — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 17:04:31 GMT

@_sidhe_ wrote:
@Anomalous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Checking in for November. I came to the garden 1 week ago today, October 25, and I plan to be here until at least May/2015. Woke up this morning to 40 degree weather here in GA, where'd the warm weather go??
I feel your pain. We broke winter records here in SC for snow in November!!?!
I woke up this morning, and it was 32 outside. I think the low for tonight is 28. At this rate, I'm hoping for a snow day this winter.

No, no snow. Bad word.

Re: Garden thread November 2014

907grown — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 17:21:14 GMT

Checking in for November. I have been app free for almost a month. Feeling good, everyday gets easier to not apply. Big plans for my TL's this year. Weeding out the AF cards if I can't get the fee waived and about to PC my barclays rewards. If that wont work, that is my smallest TL and the only one with at 25% interest rate, so I will try to move limit to US AIR card and close the card.

i will be stepping out again, not for cc or new credit, but to refinance a personal loan with my credit union. My credit score has gone up over 50 points since I got the loan with them, so I know that's good for a major intrest rate reduction with them. Other then that, my two chase cards have 0% for another 13 or 14 months so I am good with cc for at least a year. Need to spend a little time with my EX report too. Still with a few baddies....

Re: Garden thread November 2014

907grown — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 17:22:22 GMT

@Anomalous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Checking in for November. I came to the garden 1 week ago today, October 25, and I plan to be here until at least May/2015. Woke up this morning to 40 degree weather here in GA, where'd the warm weather go??
I feel your pain. We broke winter records here in SC for snow in November!!?!

Lol! No snow at my house in ALASKA yet!! good luck!