topic Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016 in Credit Cards

Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

gdale6 — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:01:03 GMT

Welcome,

Garden Club Members! &

Happy Halloween

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 Thread - Spooky October 2016

darwin_wins — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:03:02 GMT

Yay! I am one year in the garden (Well 9th but I am not apping so I am going to give myself the platinum one on 1st)

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

nachoslibres — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:04:43 GMT

Still here, don't plan on going anywhere soon either.

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

darwin_wins — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:05:37 GMT

Damn how did you get a 873 FICO score? You must be using Equifax scores and not FICO scores.

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

pizza1 — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:08:43 GMT

Yay!! I made it in first page finally!!! Lol

Starting my 4th month in garden

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

gdale6 — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:08:55 GMT

@darwin_wins wrote:
Damn how did you get a 873 FICO score? You must be using Equifax scores and not FICO scores.

Most likely a Fico Bankcard score it is 250-900

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

Discover2016 — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:09:49 GMT

Still gardening! Scores going up! Next month I earn my Palladium spade!

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:10:10 GMT

Almost through month 2!! Happy october ghouls and gardeners!!

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

Discover2016 — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:11:42 GMT

Also kind of excited to see what Amex has in store this month, I am will be keeping a close watch to see if they improve Platinum.

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

darwin_wins — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:17:15 GMT

Ah I see. I didnt even think about Bankcard score

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

nachoslibres — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:23:59 GMT

@gdale6 wrote:
@darwin_wins wrote:
Damn how did you get a 873 FICO score? You must be using Equifax scores and not FICO scores.
Most likely a Fico Bankcard score it is 250-900

This. I refuse to pay for FICO scores (no offense myFICO). The TU is a regular FICO (300-850) score.

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:23:26 GMT

Three months and counting!!!! Looking forward to the month of October as I let it all grow!!

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:44:27 GMT

Happy to be here.

I started at nothing 1 year ago, built up a nice little starter portfolio of a dozen no AF cards (9 major, 3 store cards) which gives me a nice base to let age. I closed the credit one and milestone cards which, along with the cap1 secured, were the only one's I qualified for 1 year ago. Only the BCE I activated today has the 0% promo, and I have other cards which cover restaurants, gas, rotating categories, etc. I feel like I have all of my spend covered for max rewards with the mix of cards I have.

As my spend is currently covered in what I believe is the best way possible, I don't see myself ever really doing the app spree thing again- however fun it was! I'll apply for a new card which offers 0% every year to replace the one which is expiring.

While I may be tempted to snag a new card if a really great signup bonus comes along, I'll just remind myself that the card is redundant at that moment and that offer will likely come back sometime in the future.

This year is to let my cards age, to let my score grow, to let my limits increase, and to get my apr's down so that whichever card I go for next October will give a SL and interest rate I can be proud of.

Cheers!

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:45:58 GMT

I can't wait to get in here and see what 2 years of growing veggies and flowers will do! Before I started apping for cc....I gardened for 2 years and my scores shot up 100+ points with only a car loan and deferred student loans.

So im uber excited to see what my scores will be in Jan 2019 with 2+ years of installment AND revolving lines of credit 😊.........I just have one more order of business 😕

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

CreditCuriosity — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 04:51:27 GMT

1st page... Still taking gardening one day at a time.. Will hit two months in garden on the 13th of this month. Baby steps. Should be able to make it until December if not more. I did give up on putting any spades in my signature though as sick of adding/removing them when I fail. . Hard to believe it is October already and the holidays are around the corner!

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

iheartwings — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 05:59:35 GMT

Checking in for October.

If my BoA becomes eligible for a CLI in the next 3 months (December will be 6 months from card opening), I will reevaluate that card's usefulness and worthiness for stepping out of the garden. It contributes little to my portfolio in terms of CL that I may just SD it and close it at a year, especially since my recent trip out of the garden led to some better features.

Otherwise, I am here for the foreseeable future. I really have no other card needs, so I can just let these accounts and inquiries age. I am going to avoid a specific time I'm staying anymore because you never know when you might have to step out of the safe confines. I am looking forward to my BK7 aging off EQ and EX too.

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

sarge12 — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 06:05:52 GMT

Still tending the garden...been a few snakes in the weeds trying to chase me out...slithery little creatures, these snakes.

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 06:32:44 GMT

Checking in + update!

Leaving my bank of 9 years after being sick of the way they treat their customers. Changing to a local CU so hopefully that ride will be much more smooth.

Happy October everyone!!!!!

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

sarge12 — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 08:58:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Checking in + update!

Leaving my bank of 9 years after being sick of the way they treat their customers. Changing to a local CU so hopefully that ride will be much more smooth.

Happy October everyone!!!!!

Wise choice....Credit Unions are the only way to go IMHO....It could have been worse, you could have been in Wells Fargo, unless that was your bank.

Re: Garden Club Thread - Spooky October 2016

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 09:24:36 GMT

Always good to report. September 2016 has been a rocky road. The full impact of closing six cards worth a reduction of $50K credit lines coupled with a utilization less than 1% coupled with a paid off mortgage tanked my score. Was at 848 (300 to 850 TU 08) and now at 811. Yes, my scores will come back but I was so close to the Goal Score and now I am clawing my way back. Frustrating to say the least. Still in the garden but sometimes it is hard ;(