topic Re: Garden Club - February 2016 in Credit Cards

Garden Club - February 2016

SunriseEarth — Sat, 06 Feb 2016 00:00:01 GMT

Welcome,

Garden Club Members!

Welcome all new GCers, returning GCers and old timers to our little island of "No Credit Applications". As some people may face various February expenses from Valentine's Day to Super Bowl, temptation for new credit can certainly abound. But how can you help stay on track to meet your credit goals for 2016? We can help!

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 trade lines to grow and mature, waiting for inquiries to age or fall off, and possibly waiting for "baddies" to be removed/age off. During this time, one tends to one's current accounts and watches their AAoA grow and the new credit ding fade. 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.

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. You'll always find camaraderie available here as you work towards your gardening goals.

Help yourself to our drinks and appetizers. Flat-breads, sliders, pizza, buffalo wings, grilled zucchini, kale salads, pecan and apple pie Ala mode. There's also a nice selection of cold beers. Once again, please feel free to bring anything 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!

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.

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 threads focus and tone to be consistent with gardening efforts. You are certainly welcome to celebrate SP CLIs in this thread, as they do not involve inq's 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 any backdated account, 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 been abiding 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" title="Seedling Garden Club Member" border="0" width="50" height="67" align="right">

Bronze:

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

SIlver:

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/Gfc4B.png" border="0" title="Silver Garden Club Member" width="40" height="40" align="right">

Gold:

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

Palladium:

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

Platinum:

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

Ruby:

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

Emerald:

<img src="http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/5623i698C4BF1F9D77284" border="0" width="40" title="Emerald Garden Club Member" height="40" align="right">

Sapphire:

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

Diamond:

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/40nIa.png" border="0" alt="" title="Diamond Garden Club Member" 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!

Just a reminder, if you are new to the forum, you may not be able to add your seedling to your profile. Send any mod a PM and we'll add it for you You can also use the "Report Inappropriate Content" function on the post to notify a Moderator, but indicate that you need __________ spade. (seedling, bronze, etc.)

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 11:48:34 GMT

Checking in for February! Still gardening strong!

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

darwin_wins — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 11:52:42 GMT

No temptations at all in last whole month. Gotta keep going.

What happened HF who is always the first one to check in the garden

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 11:54:28 GMT

I know. I was surprised i bet HF in this time. 😁

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

tcbofade — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 11:57:52 GMT

Good morning boys and girls.

Here's to an app free February!

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 12:04:32 GMT

It's February! A new spade for me this month! Stay strong, felllow gardeners!

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

jacetx — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 12:10:25 GMT

Good morning! 1 month in the garden now and going strong! No credit applications until January 2018. Waiting for all those pesky inquiries to fall off.

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

SunriseEarth — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 12:41:51 GMT

Hello Gardeners,

Officially checking in for February. My main credit goal is to get above 760 on all CRs. I also want to work more on the quality of credit that I have, things like seeking better APRs and CLs (if SP). As for a long term goal, I may want to get in with Chase. Of course, that won't happen until next year with their current 5/24 policy. As for my monthly plan...

1. Collect Silver Spade on 2/10(!!)

2. SP CLIs. Gold Violin should be eligible around the 10th. I'll try next month on two of my Cap One cards. I may try the APR method over at Barclay for SM; 6th statement closes on the 21st. I'm considering calling Credit Solutions for Walmart MC, but I don't really need more credit on that card right now. I could use better CLs on Discover, Cash+, and my CU Visa. Discover may budge a bit in March. I'm not sure how US Bank is about CLIs. As for my CU, my request would result in HP, so I'm holding out for auto-LUV.

3. Improving APRs. Citi DC is atrocious, but no offers to lower yet. I'll keep trying. I will try Barclay, too.

4. Pruning? I don't intend on closing any accounts currently, but I may consider it for the future. Overstock is definitely up for elimination. Sony Card is useless for me, but I keep hoping that Cap One will discontinue the program so I can get another card instead. I also need to decide if I need to keep Care Credit alive.

5. Improve balances. I intend on paying off my CU Visa and paying down my Discover, using my tax refund.

And that's it for February.

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

Saleen099 — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 12:48:23 GMT

Good Morning everyone!!!!

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

gibeon — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 12:56:23 GMT

I'm going to try again! (And again! And again....)

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 12:58:43 GMT

Good morning everyone! Today I will happily be closing the "much needed at one time" First Preimer Bank card. It will lower my score for a bump or two but since I'm gardening it will all even out. Staying strong through this month and holing to be 90% credit card debt free by Feb 29! I will carry a balance on my Best Buy card because they offered me 18 months of interest free for my new fridge. Happy gardening everyone!

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 13:16:09 GMT

Another month in the garden. However this month will be short lived. NFCU Business Services is in the process of approving a commercial real estate loan for our business. Will keep everyone posted

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

BallBounces — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 13:36:52 GMT

February check in. I believe Jan 22 is my official re enter date.

Long Term (3+ years) Goal: 760 across the board.

Near Term (12 months) Goal: A 700 Mid score.

Focus items:

Pay down existing CC balance to 9% utility, all on a single 0 APR.

Simultaneously run required spend through 2 new cards.

No Hard Pulls. I may have to break this if I shop for auto insurance. Realtively unlikely I will.

Improve APR on one useless (but old) card, or PC if no HP on that.

Perform fruitless GWs on schedule.

I just got CLIs, or cards are too new, so my flurry of CLIs is done for a long while. That was a productive January though. On to February.

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 14:01:17 GMT

Checking in for February and hoping that tomorrow, the ground hog gives us the news of an early spring!

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

EdMan63 — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 14:09:06 GMT

Good morning garden friends. Another 30 days have passed and I'm still sitting in the garden watching the butterflies. I wish, more like occasional flurries. Either way glad to be here. Looking forward to another month of credit growth and hopefully score increases. Best of luck to everyone.

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 14:10:06 GMT

Good morning and happy Monday everyone. I hope everyone's week is off to a good start....

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 14:10:20 GMT

I'm going for that Platnium Spade!

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

lexandra90 — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 14:16:48 GMT

Good Morning collecting my bronze spade! I am 1 month and a week app and inquiry free. I even paid off 2 of my 18 credit cards. So felling happy about that and looking forward to my 2 years in. I will pretty much be forced to Garden as my Util is something to be ashamed of and its gonna take me 2 years to pay this off and I will not app until im at least down 1%-5% Util. I can do it cuz I have some zen like patience and its always good to come to the forums and read and learn. As for my weight loss im down to 167lbs from 192lbs. Its nice to have small little victories. I wish us all the best in the month of LOVEEEEEE <3

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

iheartwings — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 14:36:47 GMT

Hello all,

Nothing new in the garden this last month. Will be 4 months in the garden on 2/12. Yay. No new CLI or APR reductions, either. Boo.

Happy gardening!

Re: Garden Club - February 2016

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 15:13:38 GMT

Happy February to everyone! Gardening Strong this month for me.