topic Re: Garden Club - May 2016 in Credit Cards

Garden Club - May 2016

gdale6 — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:01:08 GMT

Welcome,

Garden Club Members!

Welcome all new GCers, returning GCers and old timers to our little island of "No Credit Applications".

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 - May 2016

Imperfectfuture — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:03:19 GMT

First (thread early this month).

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

NichelleN — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:05:38 GMT

I'm here! I'm here! I've now logged 4 months of no apps, no HP CLI requests, no nuttin'!

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

Imperfectfuture — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:06:37 GMT

Goals: no apps, but unsure of freezing reports (spendy in WA state).

Meet Spend bonus Ink Cash. Keep paying on my 0 percent cards, saving and investing. Work on my other business ventures. Not sure if want to keep original one alive. Have other opportunities coming up now or in six months.

Bottom line, increase income.

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

Imperfectfuture — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:07:13 GMT

@NichelleN wrote:
I'm here! I'm here! I've now logged 4 months of no apps, no HP CLI requests, no nuttin'!

Congrats.

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

OmarGB9 — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:07:46 GMT

First page! Woo! Missed being the first post by a few minutes grr...

Haha anyway glad to be here and just working on reducing debt now and growing my accounts.

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

iheartwings — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:14:04 GMT

Making it to the first page! Boom (even though it is only 9pm on the west coast!).

Happy gardening all.

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

tcbofade — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:15:54 GMT

LOL! It's MAY!!!

Kinda...

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

thummel — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:17:05 GMT

My first post ever in a garden thread but here I am! No apps for at least 6 months. Need to age these babies I have now. Getting close to I think a month now. (At least I think) haha

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

Anonymous — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:29:40 GMT

I'm here! Another month app free, with 0% balances on track to be paid in full by the time they expire! Feels great!

Technically, I've hit my 5/1/16 goal, but I see another month before I mix up my credit again. So I'll extend my end date and go for Palladium.

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

waynes1982 — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:25:26 GMT

This is my first time in the Garden Club!!!!! I think I have every card I need and every card I want for right now. So time to start gardening!!!!

I need help with creating a signature, anyone want to help me?

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

Anonymous — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:26:00 GMT

Happy May to everyone in Eastern Daylight Time! (and happy almost May to everyone else)

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

Anonymous — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:28:22 GMT

@waynes1982 wrote:
This is my first time in the Garden Club!!!!! I think I have every card I need and every card I want for right now. So time to start gardening!!!!

I need help with creating a signature, anyone want to help me?

Sure. Signatures use HTML tags. I find http://www.w3schools.com/ to be very useful when helping me write simple HTML codes. What do you want in your signature?

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

Anonymous — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:44:37 GMT

11 Months (10 months on Equifax - Verizon Wireless) and ready to pack the bags.

I know one month short of Platinum bur it's time for the mortgage applications.

File unlocks in 2 hours.

Best wishes and see you in a couple months. TTFN

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

Anonymous — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:46:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
11 Months (10 months on Equifax - Verizon Wireless) and ready to pack the bags.

I know one month short of Platinum bur it's time for the mortgage applications.

File unlocks in 2 hours.

Best wishes and see you in a couple months. TTFN

Good luck Alan!

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

Grafton88 — Sun, 01 May 2016 04:57:27 GMT

I am actually doing some gardening while I am in the garden. This Spring is beautiful.

I did pay down a secure loan to under 9%. I saw a 28 point increase. A very fruitful endeavor. If I may say so my self.

I have 2 more months to get my Silver spade.

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

Anonymous — Sun, 01 May 2016 05:05:11 GMT

Welcome to GC @waynes1982! GL with your mortgage @AlanS!

Happy May fellow gardeners! More chillin.

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

Anonymous — Sun, 01 May 2016 05:10:28 GMT

I plan on gardening until December than I am going to increase my CL's and go for a USAA credit card...I only have a classic amex with USAA. THan after that I will be gardening until June 2017 for a new home.

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

CreditMagic7 — Sun, 01 May 2016 05:21:14 GMT

Checking in for the month of MAY.

Last credit card was back in December, a new milestone to have gone this long.

Snubbed both Marvel Universe & BlisPay as well as Chase and no interest in seeking any new cards from them this year.

During this first ever extended garden time tactical plans are being drawed up and am planning some strategic moves mid summer.

Never thought i could quash the urge this much but the focus has changed for driving up FICO scores and Limits! minus new accounts.

Re: Garden Club - May 2016

Anonymous — Sun, 01 May 2016 05:49:01 GMT

@CM...That is exactly how I think of this, as strategy and tactics. Keeping laser beam focus on my objective.

OK to have some fun along the way.