topic Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011 in Credit Cards

Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:37:43 GMT

A new month, a new thread. Considering that the app addicts thread has seen some recent activity, it seems like this is a good time to convene a meeting of the Garden Club. If you are holding off on doing any new apps and allowing your existing accounts to age, then grab your gloves and watering can, pull up a chair, enjoy a cold, refreshing beverage of your choice, and feel free to share!

I promised myself no more apps after planting a couple of "seeds" back in the beginning of April. But, as some of you may have read, an unusual opportunity came my way. I had an Amex back in 1987 that went bad and was cancelled. Out of the blue, I received an invitation to apply in the mail. I went to the preapproval link and it came back with offers for Zync, Green and Gold. Since Amex is known for backdating, I decided it was worth taking the shot; an active account showing on my report with an opening date of 1987 was too huge a possibility to pass up on. I went ahead and apped for the green, and to my complete delight, I was approved! And, when I logged into my new account on the Amex website, it showed the member date going back to 1987! I can't wait to see how this reports once it goes to the CRAs; I feel like I've planted a mature, shady oak tree in my credit garden! And, my first card from a prime issuer in a long, long time.

Please know -- I would NOT have done this had it not been for the possibility of backdating. This is once again a case of weighing potential benefits of a particular app and seeing how it would fit in with one's long term credit goals.

The recent spate of unexpected approvals tempted me to apply for a card that I really, really want -- BoA Platinum Plus MasterCard credit card with WorldPoints that supports my alumni association -- but I reigned in my enthusiasm and decided to wait. I want my new Amex to show on my reports and some baddies to drop. Time is my friend, and so long as I stay on course I will eventually be in good position to apply and receive an approval. Until then -- garden, garden, garden.

So, how are other folks' gardening efforts going? Please share!

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

Smerri1029 — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:50:29 GMT

Well after totally leaving the Garden in May I am here to stay in June.

In May I applied for (and received) my mortgage which is totally acceptable in leaving the Garden but I also applied for the British Airways Chase Visa for the 100,000 miles bonus (first time I had ever done that).

So now that I am back in the Garden (and here to stay) this month I can start gardening my:

American Express Gold - Opened 10/10 - No Pre-Set

American Express Costco - Backdated 03/10 - $2,000 Limit

Bank of America Visa - Opened 10/10 - $10,000 Limit // $4,000 Limit on Credit Report (Due to a No Pre-Set Card)

Citi MasterCard - Opened -03/11 - $4,300 Limit

Chase British Airways - Opened 05/11 - $4,000 Limit

Credit Union Visa - Opened 06/10 - $3,000 Limit [I may close this one]

Discover Card - Opened 05/08 - $3,000 Limit

Auto Loan - Opened 06/10

Mortgage - Opened 06/11

That is what I am Gardening and I have no desire to leave the Garden as I have as many cards as I can handle (especially since I only use two of them). I am happy to be sticking in the Garden and am curious to see where my credit goes now as I have added a mortgage and as my accounts start to age.

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

MidnightVoice — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 16:33:06 GMT

Well, in the last two years and 1 day I have only applied for two cards. Lowes project card (6 months free financing on the new roof) and Barclays Apple Card (12 months free financing on the new computer).

Both purchases were "needs" not "wants"

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

FicoScore626 — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:28:56 GMT

I've been a good gardener as of late.. Haven't applied for anything and paid off some accounts.

Paid off Jareds... Current balance = $0

Paid off First Premier... Current balance = -$8.00

Paid off HSBC... Current balance = -$15.00

My next three targets this month will be JCPenney, Chase Slate and Macy's.. Think I'll focus on the two that actually report credit limts, lol.. I used to have 9 accounts reporting a balance and now it's down to 5. And before the month is over it'll be down to 3.

I've sock drawered the Macy's, JCPenneys, Bloomingdale's, Care Credit, First Premier, and HSBC cards. I also made a request for a credit line increase with First Premier Bank and am awaiting their decision. I just want to get a final increase on that card and then quickly close it before they come knocking for their annual fee next month.

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:28:24 GMT

Well I'm in my third month of building/rebuilding. No Trigger fingers have been used and I just have my eye set on December when MAYBE I'll see If pull it to apply,I even said it on my siggy that I was going to apply in december but after daydreaming here and there at work, I'm really leaning towards just letting my score age maybe till April or may so I can get a loan for my bike (2,000-4,000) after all I DON'T NEED ANOTHER CC but I DO NEED A CHEAPER WAY of transportation and HAVE FUN ON THE WAY!! Lol

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:29:32 GMT

I too am in the gardening phase. And it's killing me, but I want to wait for inquiries to go down! Here is a list of my current cards - I also have an Auto Loan at 3.25% from Alliant CU for 18,000 and Mortgage from BoA for 152,000 at 2.75 (Adjustable once a year ARM).

Card Name	Credit Line	Opened
Cap1 (Auth User)	3750	11/1/01
Household MC	750	5/1/02
BoA (Auth User)	6300	5/1/03
AMEX Blue	10,000	3/1/05
Chase Slate Visa	2500	7/1/05
Juniper Airtran Visa	3500	7/1/05
AMEX Gold	Charge	7/1/05
Citi (RTG)	1510	8/1/05
Household Visa	1015	7/1/06
Macys	Charge	2/1/11
Gap/GEMB Visa	1000	3/1/11
Citi Dividend Visa	4,200	3/1/11
Alliant CU Visa	15,000	4/1/11
Lowes/GEMB	2600	5/1/11

Overall I'm moving a good direction now that I have cards with CL's over 10k.

My inquires are:

EQ has 6 (two for Discover which I have consistently been denied, two are for Alliant CU (one for membership, one for CC and Auto Loan Re-Fi), one from HSBC (no idea what it's for) and one from CapitalOne Auto Finance).

TU has 4 (Lowes-approved $2600, GAP/GEMP Visa-approved $1000, Barclays CLI (500 to 3500), CapitalOne Auto Finance).

EX has 5 (two are for AMEX (Gold and Blue - both backdated to 2005 original AMEX card dates), two for Citi (one declined in 7/2010, then approved in 3/2011), one for Macy's-approved, one from CapitalOne Auto Finance).

Good ole CapitalOne AF pulls all 3 bureaus so that sucks. Plus I have since re-fi'ed with Alliant at a much lower rate. I've been very happy with Alliant, I just wish they had a LOC for their checking account like most CU's do.

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

drsmith — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:38:38 GMT

I'm in gardening mode until this fall when I'll probably be looking to take out an auto loan and maybe finance a portion of an engagement ring. My accounts currently are:

-Several student loans ranging from 2008 to present

-Cap1 $750 limit opened 8/08

-USAA MC $7000 limit opened 11/10

-BoA AmEx $5000 opened 4/11

-Delta Gold Amex opened 5/11

Eq only shows one inquiry from USAA and EX has two from BoA and AmEx. I'm very happy with my small portfolio and I'm sure these cards will grow quite nicely with me.

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

hedgeclipper2 — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 19:10:32 GMT

My garden is still the same from last month. Yay! No new apps. So proud of myself.

I intend to keep it that way until at least October of this year, hopefully longer.

You guys keep me strong!

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 19:17:41 GMT

Just started gardening a few days ago. Found this board a few weeks ago. Seeing others results made me go a little app crazy for a minute. Got a bunch of letters out and now I'm going to garden what I do have for the next 6 months. Then apply for 3 cards strategically, if my score has made it to my goal (680), then garden until I buy a house.

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 19:50:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Just started gardening a few days ago. Found this board a few weeks ago. Seeing others results made me go a little app crazy for a minute. Got a bunch of letters out and now I'm going to garden what I do have for the next 6 months. Then apply for 3 cards strategically, if my score has made it to my goal (680), then garden until I buy a house.

Yeah, this board can do that, LOL!!!

Sounds like a good plan!

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 22:19:59 GMT

I'm so flippin' bored with gardening right now.

I'm not applying for anything right now because I want to buy a house at the end of summer and don't need any fresh inquiries on my reports.

As it is, there will be 3 EX (0 < 6 months, 1 < year, 2 > year), 5 EQ (0 < 6 months, 1 < year, 4 > year), and 0 TU.

I feel like I'm missing out on some good deals right now but getting a house is the goal, so I have to not apply for anything right now.

So, except for the inquiries, the rest of my reports are in good shape and I shouldn't have a problem getting a mortgage with good terms.

Oldest Account = 17 years

AAoA = 6.9 years

USAA MC $0/$8,000 (PIF)

USAA Amex $0/9,000 (PIF)

Amex SPG $0/10,000 (PIF)

Scores in my signature.

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

tntexans72 — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 22:49:52 GMT

@Icewave76 wrote:
I'm so flippin' bored with gardening right now.

I'm not applying for anything right now because I want to buy a house at the end of summer and don't need any fresh inquiries on my reports.
As it is, there will be 3 EX (0 < 6 months, 1 < year, 2 > year), 5 EQ (0 < 6 months, 1 < year, 4 > year), and 0 TU.
I feel like I'm missing out on some good deals right now but getting a house is the goal, so I have to not apply for anything right now.
So, except for the inquiries, the rest of my reports are in good shape and I shouldn't have a problem getting a mortgage with good terms.

Oldest Account = 17 years
AAoA = 6.9 years
USAA MC $0/$8,000 (PIF)
USAA Amex $0/9,000 (PIF)
Amex SPG $0/10,000 (PIF)
Scores in my signature.

The Lenders gonna drool over your CR.

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 22:52:11 GMT

@tntexans72 wrote:
@Icewave76 wrote:
I'm so flippin' bored with gardening right now.

I'm not applying for anything right now because I want to buy a house at the end of summer and don't need any fresh inquiries on my reports.
As it is, there will be 3 EX (0 < 6 months, 1 < year, 2 > year), 5 EQ (0 < 6 months, 1 < year, 4 > year), and 0 TU.
I feel like I'm missing out on some good deals right now but getting a house is the goal, so I have to not apply for anything right now.
So, except for the inquiries, the rest of my reports are in good shape and I shouldn't have a problem getting a mortgage with good terms.

Oldest Account = 17 years
AAoA = 6.9 years
USAA MC $0/$8,000 (PIF)
USAA Amex $0/9,000 (PIF)
Amex SPG $0/10,000 (PIF)
Scores in my signature.

The Lenders gonna drool over your CR.

+1!

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

JRomulus — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 23:52:55 GMT

Nice work everyone. I like this thread, good to recommit with each new month.

In the past 6 months DW and I have paid off enough debt that we are paying $1000 less in interest per month. (Util was greater than 70%). Which only makes paying off the rest SO much easier. It's kind of like getting a rock to start rolling down hill, once you get started, you do pick up momentum and it gets easier.

So with 10 credit cards, 1 Amex charge and 9 store cards, I think that's probably enough plastic for now..

Total hard inquiries are 19 (TU 8, EQ 6, EX 5) and one year from today it will only be 8. Sadly, when I was buying a car 1 year ago, I mistakenly let two dealers do hard pulls, and between them and lender cost me 6 hard inquiries in the space of 2 days. Ouch. But learned my lesson.

Yes, all my CRA records are now frozen, best $30 I ever spent.

Focusing on gardening and weeding out unproductive cards (especially those that won't grant me credit limit increases or have no rewards) or expensive cards (anything that has an AF but isn't really serving a purpose any more, or has a high APR). My last Experian hard inq on 5/25 was for a Continental Airline Mastercard from Chase; was denied...reason? I had already gotten a Chase Quicken Visa (that's another story) from them during the past 6 months and Chase says only 1 new card per 6 months. Recon'd and... approved. (Never would have been approved with 70% UTIL now would I ??)

So got something out of my last app for a year! So 2 new credit cards to report in June with zero balances (Amex Hilton Honors @ $3500 and Chase Continental @ $ ?.

Means that I can weed something out, right?? (I don't have an AAoA issue).

So my Lowes card ($1330 low limit, no CLI for 5 years) almost got cut up yesterday, but for kicks pressed the CLI link on Lowes website and voila, new limit $3350. OK, Lowes, I will keep you now.

Meantime just used those Amex Hilton Honors bonus points to stay at the Niagra Falls Embassy Suites with family on July 4th!

Have a good June everyone!

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

android01 — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 00:03:50 GMT

I had a relapse in May. I got a pre-approval from Ameriprise, where I have a retirement account, for their World Mastercard. It has great rewards, and a 9.24% interest rate. I was approved with a $25,000 CL, which matched my highest CL. I really MUST garden now because I'm discovering that I'm applying for cards for no other purpose than to have them. The sign of a true addict!

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

JRomulus — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 00:06:46 GMT

Wow, Android, that would have been hard for anyone to pass up. (And nice CL). I still do not have an APR that low.

But, my time will come (thinking about USAA Mastercard in 1 year), and low APR's really don't mean anything if you PIF every month......

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 00:54:15 GMT

@JRomulus wrote:
Nice work everyone. I like this thread, good to recommit with each new month.

In the past 6 months DW and I have paid off enough debt that we are paying $1000 less in interest per month. (Util was greater than 70%). Which only makes paying off the rest SO much easier. It's kind of like getting a rock to start rolling down hill, once you get started, you do pick up momentum and it gets easier.

So with 10 credit cards, 1 Amex charge and 9 store cards, I think that's probably enough plastic for now..
Total hard inquiries are 19 (TU 8, EQ 6, EX 5) and one year from today it will only be 8. Sadly, when I was buying a car 1 year ago, I mistakenly let two dealers do hard pulls, and between them and lender cost me 6 hard inquiries in the space of 2 days. Ouch. But learned my lesson.

Yes, all my CRA records are now frozen, best $30 I ever spent.

Focusing on gardening and weeding out unproductive cards (especially those that won't grant me credit limit increases or have no rewards) or expensive cards (anything that has an AF but isn't really serving a purpose any more, or has a high APR). My last Experian hard inq on 5/25 was for a Continental Airline Mastercard from Chase; was denied...reason? I had already gotten a Chase Quicken Visa (that's another story) from them during the past 6 months and Chase says only 1 new card per 6 months. Recon'd and... approved. (Never would have been approved with 70% UTIL now would I ??)
@Anonymous got something out of my last app for a year! So 2 new credit cards to report in June with zero balances (Amex Hilton Honors @ $3500 and Chase Continental @ $ ?.

Means that I can weed something out, right?? (I don't have an AAoA issue).

So my Lowes card ($1330 low limit, no CLI for 5 years) almost got cut up yesterday, but for kicks pressed the CLI link on Lowes website and voila, new limit $3350. OK, Lowes, I will keep you now.

Meantime just used those Amex Hilton Honors bonus points to stay at the Niagra Falls Embassy Suites with family on July 4th!
Have a good June everyone!

Good decision. As an FYI, your Lowe's card will get you 5% off at the register, so you may consider it well worth keeping.

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 00:55:47 GMT

@android01 wrote:
I had a relapse in May. I got a pre-approval from Ameriprise, where I have a retirement account, for their World Mastercard. It has great rewards, and a 9.24% interest rate. I was approved with a $25,000 CL, which matched my highest CL. I really MUST garden now because I'm discovering that I'm applying for cards for no other purpose than to have them. The sign of a true addict!

Congrats! Well worth it!

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 14:58:05 GMT

Checking in 1 week later. How's everybody doing? My trigger finger is getting itchy. This is tough! But I'm hanging in there so far.

Re: Garden Club Meeting for June 2011

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:05:15 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Checking in 1 week later. How's everybody doing? My trigger finger is getting itchy. This is tough! But I'm hanging in there so far.

I'm hanging in there, as well. I'm mostly focused on waiting for my backdated Amex to show up on my report. I'm bouncing off the walls to see what impact that has on my scores, and am really, really hoping that it reports the backdating correctly. I've read that Amex is slow to report, so I could be playing the waiting game for a while.

Keep fingers off the button! Step away from the keyboard and/or mouse! I know it's tough -- there's a card that I want really, really badly -- but we need to give our TLs time to grow and report favorably. Then, we'll be in much better position to be approved for future cards. Patience...