topic Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012 in Credit Cards

Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:44:07 GMT

Greetings, fellow credit gardeners! Autumn is upon us as we start a new month. And so, I hereby convene the October meeting of the myFICO Garden Club.

For those who are new to the concept of gardening, 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 TLs to grow and mature, waiting for inqs to age or fall off, and possibly waiting for "baddies" to be removed or age off. During this time, one tends to one's current accounts and watches their AAoA grow and the new credit ding fade.

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. In honor of Oktoberfest, we have a German themed buffet for your dining pleasure! Offerings include an assortment of sausages -- bratwurst, knockwurst and weiners -- along with bavarian sauerkraut and german potato salad. For those with hearty appetite, we also have rindsrauladen (stuffed beef rolls), spatzle and red cabbage. To accompany, we have a good selection of imported german and domestic beers, along with a choice of soft drinks.For dessert we have black forest cake, apple strudel and linzer tarts. We have an appetizer selection consisting of salmon pate on rye crisps, sweet potato spinach stuffed triangles, and as always, an assortment of mini-quiches. Please feel free to bring and add any items that you'd like. And, in the corner diagonally across from the front door, there is a fully stocked bar. If needed, there are some anti-itch medications stocked in our supply cabinet near the door -- Lanacaine, Benedryl, 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!

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 on another thread. While we are happy with members’ success stories, we really do want to keep this thread’s focus and tone to be consistent with gardening efforts. You are certainly welcome to celebrate soft CLIs on this thread, though, as they do not involve inqs 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 backdated Amex accounts, 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.

You will be able to add the following to your siggy if you have abided 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

12 months - platinum 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.

I'd like to express my appreciation to DaveSignal for coming up with some spade graphics that you can embed in your siggy in order to display your status. Thanks, DS -- great job!!!

Seedling:

Bronze:

SIlver:

line to put at top of sig:

Gold:

line to put at top of sig:

Platinum:

line to put at top of sig:

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

Diamond:

line to put at top of sig:

So, how's everyone's garden doing this month? Please feel free to mix and mingle, and share your gardening goals as well as your progress on the journey.

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

LS2982 — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 13:48:03 GMT

I'm still here, waiting to pick my bronze spade back up!

My BT took too long to report and now I'm stuck with an extra 4k in false debt for the month

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

TNTransplant — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:07:03 GMT

I'm in!

Still waiting on the new CSP to hit the CRAs, and will surely take a FICO hit for that - otherwise just hanging out. I'm trying to think of ways to achieve the $3000 spend in 90 days requirement so I'll get my 40,000 points.

I can do it, but it just means that I will have to extend my payoff plan a little longer (I've been obsessive with paying off revolving debt this year, and I don't like the idea of getting off track), but I'm going to have to do it if I want the points. I have everything transferred to 0% BT cards now anyway, so I'm paying no interest on my remaining CC debt ($8,000 left - down from $25,000 at the beginning of the year).

I will also pick up a bronze spade on 10/16, so life is good...

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

Tommy5746 — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:12:31 GMT

@LS2982 wrote:
I'm still here, waiting to pick my bronze spade back up!

My BT took too long to report and now I'm stuck with an extra 4k in false debt for the month

That sucks man that nothing could be done!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

ramblin_wreck08 — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:18:20 GMT

Restating my goal: no apps until I buy a house. Hoping to have a down payment saved up sometime next year. This is going to be tough. No apps + tight budget. But it'll all be worth it when I get the keys to my first house sometime in the near future.

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

webhopper — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:39:51 GMT

Still gardening... Hoping to make it back to bronze again!

I am still in the process of refinancing my rental property. Plan on apping for a new car loan in Nov or Dec. My # of inquiries have gone from 18+ down to 8-9... Gardening is great!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

djrez4 — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:42:28 GMT

Still here and sticking with the plan of no apps til January. I expect a bronze spade this month!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:46:39 GMT

It's about time I settle in here for some time

Time to sit back and watch the fruits of my labor (it takes a lot to fill out CC apps ) grow my scores! Happy to be here for the first time ever. A virgin gardener has emerged!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

jamesdwi — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:46:44 GMT

Still in the garden, expect to be untill January, keep debating about APing then, 38k in total CL is enough, but I would like a CSP card.

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

CS800 — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:52:55 GMT

Still app free. Awaiting a possible PC with Cap One

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:58:32 GMT

Still in the garden ... going for the Silver this month!!

No apps until January ...Atleast!!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

codimom — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:00:05 GMT

Still here, and by Halloween I'll have my silver spade!
I'm gonna bring in a bottle of white Godiva liquor to go with my hot cocoa and watch my seedlings grow and grow!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

CS800 — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:15:20 GMT

@codimom wrote:
Still here, and by Halloween I'll have my silver spade!
I'm gonna bring in a bottle of white Godiva liquor to go with my hot cocoa and watch my seedlings grow and grow!

Caution: Alcohol may trigger app sree

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:28:59 GMT

I'm still here. Pass a Hefeweizen, as this waiting is driving me nuts.

Still gardening my lil' patio garden (2 secured cards) and joined a CU a couple of weeks ago. Take that, Big Evil Banking Entity! My biggest derogs were four defaulted student loans that I have been patiently rehabbing since January. I made my ninth rehab payment 9/17, and am waiting for them to be picked up & put back into non-default status. I checked the Default Resolution Group's website over the weekend, and they are reporting a zero balance - fingers crossed that means I've been picked up! Am still on track to be debt-free by June 2013.

In other news, have tentatively taken first steps toward researching a home purchase. Have a friend who's a realtor, who has been kind enough to answer some questions over lunch. Have an appointment with a mortgage broker, who knows my rebuilding process and is going to at least give me some advice. Homes are cropping up in the neighborhood I want that are definitely within reach for me financially....I'm not pulling the trigger on that anytime soon but it's at least nice to dream & start working toward that goal. Now all I have to do is stay patient, and don't rush into anything too quickly.

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

LionLaw — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:32:16 GMT

Greetings all. This is my first foray into the garden. My last apps were on 7/30 (Amex: approved for Zync NPSL; Chase: denied, but on recon, found out I wasn't blacklisted). So, I guess I've already been in the garden for a couple months without really trying.

My short term goal has been to get to 700 (which is a long way from the 617 I had back in June). between my backdated Amex and my most recent late payments aging past the 1-year mark, my score has reached 668. With overall util around 40%, I should be able to come close to my goal once I get those balances back down close to zero next month.

I've already started to see the fruits of my gardening: just last week, Wells Fargo spontaneously gave me a CLI from $3000 to $4200.

My long-term goal is to buy a house in the next 18 months or so. I don't think I'll be able to get my scores up to that magic 760 by then, but I'll happily settle for 720, which should be attainable. In the mean time, I don't have any burning desire for new credit. Down the road, I may try again to get back in with Chase, but for now, I have more credit than I need; it's kind of nice having one card in the sock drawer.

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

codimom — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:49:45 GMT

Okay, I'll make sure I put the laptop down whilst drinking during Monday Night football

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

lithium78 — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:50:41 GMT

Well, I'm still in the garden, but I'm edging toward leaving the garden to get a credit union credit card due to my ongoing unemployment. It hasn't come to it yet and I've been holding off on any apps because I want to get a mortgage next year, but I've been unemployed for three months now so I have to take every possibility into consideration. If it becomes necessary, I'd rather have to carry a balance on a high CL, low interest credit union credit card rather than my high interest rewards cards.

I'm still clutching my platinum spade right now, though, and I really don't want to have to lose it. :-(

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

LS2982 — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:54:33 GMT

@lithium sorry to hear about your unemploymant status, I hope you get back in the nb field ASAP!!!

Your financial well being trumps a spade anyday, do what you gotta do!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

Tommy5746 — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:56:41 GMT

@lithium78 wrote:
Well, I'm still in the garden, but I'm edging toward leaving the garden to get a credit union credit card due to my ongoing unemployment. It hasn't come to it yet and I've been holding off on any apps because I want to get a mortgage next year, but I've been unemployed for three months now so I have to take every possibility into consideration. If it becomes necessary, I'd rather have to carry a balance on a high CL, low interest credit union credit card rather than my high interest rewards cards.

I'm still clutching my platinum spade right now, though, and I really don't want to have to lose it. :-(

I wish you the best in finding a job!!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - October 2012

lithium78 — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:00:08 GMT

@Tommy5746 wrote:
@lithium78 wrote:
Well, I'm still in the garden, but I'm edging toward leaving the garden to get a credit union credit card due to my ongoing unemployment. It hasn't come to it yet and I've been holding off on any apps because I want to get a mortgage next year, but I've been unemployed for three months now so I have to take every possibility into consideration. If it becomes necessary, I'd rather have to carry a balance on a high CL, low interest credit union credit card rather than my high interest rewards cards.

I'm still clutching my platinum spade right now, though, and I really don't want to have to lose it. :-(
I wish you the best in finding a job!!

Thanks! All those politicians who say that unemployed people are just lazy have no idea what they are talking about. I've been trying to find a job that will pay the bills for 3 months and I've had 7 interviews and no offers. The competition is so fierce, especially in my field (education), which has faced drastic layoffs over the past four years. I really want to be careful not to screw up my credit.