topic Re: Garden Club - September 2017 in Credit Cards

Garden Club - September 2017

UncleB — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:00:50 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 à la 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 - September 2017

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:01:58 GMT

Dang, didn't even notice that we hadn't started one yet.

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

UncleB — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:05:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Dang, didn't even notice that we hadn't started one yet.

Hehe... me either! Any other month several of us would have been on top of it... LOL!

Happy September, everybody!

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

bizarrocreditworld — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:10:34 GMT

Hello Everyone,

Checking in for September. I had an eventful August with my baddies being deleted / falling off, which made me a member of the 700 Club.

Given everything that happened this month (you can see what happened on another part of the forum), I've decided to double down on the gardening and not do anything for the next 16 months. Why? I've noticed that my oldest card is only 9 months old and I want Tier 1 credit cards. To get that, I need Tier 1 credit scores and some aging on the accounts. The next 16 months will give me what I need to go out and app for what I want. Meanwhile, I'm in a situation where I have no debt and I am letting one card report a small balance to get my utilization about 1%. Otherwise, it's SP CLIs for me going forward!

The big challenge coming up will be when I see DW's 3B report since she will be looking to buy a car after she finishes her Ph.D. this month. I told her we need to see the Auto scores to find out where she stands.

Anyway, have a great end of the summer and Labor Day holiday! Keep the scores up and the debt down.

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:13:56 GMT

Wow first page!

I’m here for September!

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:18:27 GMT

Good morning!!

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

driftless — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:22:44 GMT

Good Morning! Awesome, First Page! This bodes well for September!

I am looking forward to fall in the garden, I hope everyone else is as well.

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

jacetx — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:31:26 GMT

You will have to put an electric fence around my computers and phones.

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

MissMoni223 — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:32:35 GMT

Happy September Fellow GC Members,

I'm still here AND I'm OFFICIALLY in the 700 Club with all 3 credit bureaus!!! Other than that nothing new here, LOL!!!

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

Blackswizz750 — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:36:41 GMT

signing in for September drinking my daily coffee and prepping the grill for one last summer que. Hope all is well in Ficoland.

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

coldnmn — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:40:13 GMT

Checking in for Sept! Gardening strong!

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

Jimp2323 — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:42:44 GMT

After my disappointments with Navy last month I think I'll just stay here a while. Please lower the volume on that noise you young whippersnappers call music.

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

odd_dog — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:43:15 GMT

Been busy, just checking in, waiting for everything to calm down, good news no apping at all, or even thinking about it....cant close any cards because of mortgage situation. Want to close my Amex blue sky, total waste, all the points I had and I could not use it because disney put in a charge as time share, for a HOTEL, go figure....I am now going to lose all those "travel rebate" cards, what a waste I would rather get cash back and just pay the bills that way then "ambiguous credits for travel expenses". Other than that life is good, remember DO NOT APP......ENJOY!!!

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

K-in-Boston — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 14:03:55 GMT

Good morning, fellow gardeners! No pulls since July 11th (Navy EQ), so I'm nearing the 2 month mark again. Still fighting the urge to click those CLI links on my Bank of America cards, though. I may need to join jacetx behind that electric fence! My goals are still the same - continue to chip away at the revolving debt and go 12 months with no inquiries or new accounts to get my scores boosted up, followed by a big hard pull credit line increase marathon day, and then account combination and/or closing spree! That first $100k revolving card will be mine!

Stay strong everyone and good luck with your goals!

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 14:27:19 GMT

Hello everyone!!! I'm late...

Nothing new, just working. Work is slow in what I do for the Labor Day Week, so now I'm hunting extra tasks to keep me busy.

On the credit front: The march is slow and tedious, as I'm still standing around in my corner of the Garden wearing my trusty concrete shoes, barking at AJC and tcbo for propping up the fence and fiddling with the power.

I'm still tinkering with my new 3D printer, haven't gotten it to work correctly yet. Being a man, I might have to swallow me pride and actually follow the directions... Grrr...

Garden September!!!

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 14:33:02 GMT

Good morning, fellow gardeners!

Today is a welcome day off for me. I just started an alternative work schedule, and get every other Friday off. This first one gives me a four day weekend because of Labor Day, and I will take it!

All is well in my section of the garden. My scores took a little dip because of my activity outside the fences in late June/ and July and all the stuff hitting my reports (kind of like hitting the fan, lol) in August. I was down to EQ 679, TU 645, and EX 679. EX just bumped up a little to 681. TU hates my guts. I have looked at that dang report and compared it to the other two, and I can't figure out what is keeping that score so below the others.

I claimed my bronze spade on the 28th, and now have to make it two months to claim only my second ever silver spade, and I hope to keep it this time!

Garden strong, everyone!

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 14:36:37 GMT

I got a couple soft pull CLI today and I was going to try and increase my CU card but they want to do a HP. I am sure I'd get the increase but I'd rather just wait as I don't really "need" the increase atm. It's so hard not to scratch that itch.

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 14:51:54 GMT

Hello September and everyone!!

Nothing new here, still gardening. Approved for CLIs on some of my card with SP. Downgraded to BCE, downgraded AMEX Platinum to Green.

Gardening until Ch7 falls in 10/2020

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

CreditMagic7 — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 14:53:41 GMT

Checking in again this month and still keeping my nose clean.

May sleep it off until the new year

Re: Garden Club - September 2017

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 15:15:11 GMT

I am tired of begging for credit. I am in the garden until they come wooing me. Then we'll see