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

Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 18:57:23 GMT

Greetings, fellow credit gardeners! As this month's holiday approaches, I'm sure that many of us have much to be grateful for. With that thought in mind, I hereby convene the November 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. This month we have an appetizer selection consisting of stuffed mushrooms, cranberry-apricot baked brie with honey, feta cheese foldovers, hot artichoke dip with pita crisps, corn fritters, and as always, an assortment of mini-quiches. We also have caramel apple bars and pumpkin pie. 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, 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, 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 - November 2012

armbenderc — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 01:26:43 GMT

I'm in to the end of 2013!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 01:27:24 GMT

Just a quick check in. I'm doing great with my garden... everything is growing nicely and no app itches at all.

But I want to let everyone know that I'll be away from the boards until the beginning of next week. I've been sick the last couple of days so I haven't been on as much. I'm also planning on being out of town for the weekend and hope that I feel better by then; traveling while sick is no fun. So please, enjoy the clubhouse and I hope to participate with everyone again soon. Happy gardening!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

creditnocash — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 01:37:20 GMT

tinuviel feel better we've all been there.

as for gardening at the end of november ill be getting my silver spade! can't wait.

went shopping today and express tried to offer me a card and i was like no way.

same with ae. they were like would you like to apply for the visa version i was like NO.

got some nice sweaters and such though.

only thing is my statement closes tommorrow (didnt think about that lol) usually takes a couple days for those charges to post though so i think im good.

since im gardening shouldnt matter much.

whose ready for thanksgiving?

im assuming no one actually grows pumpkins here? my grandfather grows them. oh and happy haloween if you celebrate it.

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

Epcot — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 01:46:18 GMT

Feel better tinuviel!

I am getting close to 9 months app free. I have brought my util down from 80% to about 30%. Should update on my report sometime in the next 10 days or so.
Problem is I want two cards. Walmart and Disney Premier from Chase. My last app was for the Disney Chase card in february and got declined due to my util. Now that it is down I am starting to have a strong itch to app for both cards next month. Especially hoping for a lenient approval and high CL with walmart considering the holiday season is coming up.
But for the next couple weeks until my new balances report, I am still gardening!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 02:33:42 GMT

Just entered the garden, but hope to stay here until I app for another AMEX in January.

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

Epcot — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 02:06:30 GMT

Click on My Settings, right next to your Screen Name and the Sign Out link in the upper left area of the screen. Then under Personal Settings there is a box marked Signature. Fill it in with what you want to have!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 02:21:14 GMT

@Epcot wrote:
Click on My Settings, right next to your Screen Name and the Sign Out link in the upper left area of the screen. Then under Personal Settings there is a box marked Signature. Fill it in with what you want to have!

Thanks!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

injustifiiable — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 02:30:00 GMT

Feel better Tinu!

Just babying my cards...no INQ's since early September. Hoping to try for Walmart next year.

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

TNTransplant — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 02:37:53 GMT

Hope you feel better soon, tinu!

Still here, working on trimming down revolving debt and letting the thornquiries age off over the next couple of years (ugh!).

1.5 months app-free!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 02:49:31 GMT

Firmly planed in the garden since 10/29/12 - I know, only a few days but it was a necessary evil.

Now I will tend to my garden until *at least* May of '13.. possibly longer.

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

Roarmeister — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 02:57:32 GMT

Staying safe and waiting out the Halloween...

Recently upgraded to the Silver icon and heading on over to the Gold one.

I should get my quarterly credit score update in a couple of weeks, hoping to get a little boost with recent CLIs and continous paydown of my existing CC debt and hoping to be debt free in April.

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

afbar1114 — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 03:04:20 GMT

checking in. i had to step out of garden today because i was trying to get a generator and asked for a CLI on my BoA card. i dont know if it was a HP or SP but the way thing were going up here i needed extra to try and get one and so i could eat. but luckly my power came back on tonight. sandy really did some hurt to alot of people by me. my family beach house was flooded i just hope it did not get to much damage

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

Kidcat — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 03:40:58 GMT

I hope to stay firmly planted until mid to late 2013.

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 03:48:58 GMT

Just got approved for a Discover More and a US Bank Rewards card (hoping to upgrade to Cash+ Visa Signature later), so I will garden for 3-6 months until my next app for a BCE and an auto loan.

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

distantarray — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 05:22:53 GMT

Guess I'll join lol

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 05:50:20 GMT

I'm also in the garden until mid-2013.

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

Tonya-E — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 06:21:00 GMT

Checking in for November! I am still here. Day 195 in the garden. Not too much going on for November yet. We'll see what's in store for the rest of the month. Need to put down some fertilizer! Happy gardening everyone!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

Tonya-E — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 06:22:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Just a quick check in. I'm doing great with my garden... everything is growing nicely and no app itches at all.

But I want to let everyone know that I'll be away from the boards until the beginning of next week. I've been sick the last couple of days so I haven't been on as much. I'm also planning on being out of town for the weekend and hope that I feel better by then; traveling while sick is no fun. So please, enjoy the clubhouse and I hope to participate with everyone again soon. Happy gardening!

Feel better tinu!

Re: Garden Club Meeting - November 2012

BearsAndTurtlesRtheBest — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 06:27:56 GMT

How od you get th seed icon? and how do i join?