topic Re: Gardening paying off in Rebuilding Your Credit

Gardening paying off

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 01:05:11 GMT

It is my first time that I am able to stay in the garden. My last app was in December 2021. I plan to keep gardening until major creditors send me offers to apply. Thought to share my success but long way to go!

Re: Gardening paying off

mfinsmi1 — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 01:43:12 GMT

Wow thats a huge win congrats! ... did any negative items get deleted during your time in the garden... asking to see if the score increase was due to purley gardening or if any other updates had occured to influence the score jump

Re: Gardening paying off

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 03:05:12 GMT

@mfinsmi1 wrote:
Wow thats a huge win congrats! ... did any negative items get deleted during your time in the garden... asking to see if the score increase was due to purley gardening or if any other updates had occured to influence the score jump

Thank you. My negative items are scheduled to be deleted in 2024. It was purley due to gardening. I always paid my credit cards in full each month and still do.

Re: Gardening paying off

Aim_High — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 19:38:03 GMT

Nice job, @Anonymous!

BMF (Before My FICO lol ) I used to naturally "garden" before I knew a name for it. It's easy to get caught up in the frenzy on the forums and sometimes difficult to know when to stop. The good news is that gardening gets easier as you stop applying. You get that reward from seeing scores stabilize or improve again. And taking a step back from new accounts gives you a chance to reassess. Sometimes, you realize you have cards that no longer serve a purpose. Sometimes, it becomes more clear what holes are in your lineup or what cards would most benefit you next. Making a strategic, purposeful plan for new applications is an important part of growing your credit. As for closing cards, I've made the comparison that closing unneeded accounts can be like "weeding" your garden, an important step to let the "flowers" (good cards) thrive.

Regardless of our credit profile and income, we all have our limits on how fast and far we can push new credit seeking. And going too fast often leads to lower limits or denials. Even with high 800+ FICO, high income, thick file, low debt, I reached a limit a couple of years ago. I've been mostly gardening for the past two plus years. (See link on my milestone.) (No HPs since 08/15/2020.) I did add one new personal card (AMEX Bonvoy Brilliant) in November 2021 with a SP and I just added a new business card (AMEX Blue Business Plus) also with a SP. So I'm at 0/6; 0/12; 0/24 for inquiries on all three bureaus and 0/6; 1/12; 1/24 for new (personal) accounts. This puts me in a great position to resume my apps, to get approvals for anything I want, and to possibly get much higher SLs. Meanwhile, I've grown some of my limits further through soft pulls and closed/consolidated a couple of cards.

Thanks for sharing your experience with the community!

Re: Gardening paying off

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 02:10:08 GMT

@Aim_High wrote:
Nice job, @Anonymous!

BMF (Before My FICO lol ) I used to naturally "garden" before I knew a name for it. It's easy to get caught up in the frenzy on the forums and sometimes difficult to know when to stop. The good news is that gardening gets easier as you stop applying. You get that reward from seeing scores stabilize or improve again. And taking a step back from new accounts gives you a chance to reassess. Sometimes, you realize you have cards that no longer serve a purpose. Sometimes, it becomes more clear what holes are in your lineup or what cards would most benefit you next. Making a strategic, purposeful plan for new applications is an important part of growing your credit. As for closing cards, I've made the comparison that closing unneeded accounts can be like "weeding" your garden, an important step to let the "flowers" (good cards) thrive.

Regardless of our credit profile and income, we all have our limits on how fast and far we can push new credit seeking. And going too fast often leads to lower limits or denials. Even with high 800+ FICO, high income, thick file, low debt, I reached a limit a couple of years ago. I've been mostly gardening for the past two plus years. (See link on my milestone.) (No HPs since 08/15/2020.) I did add one new personal card (AMEX Bonvoy Brilliant) in November 2021 with a SP and I just added a new business card (AMEX Blue Business Plus) also with a SP. So I'm at 0/6; 0/12; 0/24 for inquiries on all three bureaus and 0/6; 1/12; 1/24 for new (personal) accounts. This puts me in a great position to resume my apps, to get approvals for anything I want, and to possibly get much higher SLs. Meanwhile, I've grown some of my limits further through soft pulls and closed/consolidated a couple of cards.

Thanks for sharing your experience with the community!

I agree it was hard for first few months now it is way easier. I want to sit back now and watch my fico go up. I never needed all this credit I was just addicted to see approval sceens. I am trying to be like you right now.

Re: Gardening paying off

Suzette2 — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 13:27:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

It is my first time that I am able to stay in the garden. My last app was in December 2021. I plan to keep gardening until major creditors send me offers to apply. Thought to share my success but long way to go!

Awesome!!!!! This gives me hope 😊

Re: Gardening paying off

Aim_High — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 14:37:24 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

I agree it was hard for first few months now it is way easier. I want to sit back now and watch my fico go up. I never needed all this credit I was just addicted to see approval sceens. I am trying to be like you right now.

Glad I set a good example, at least until last night! I exited the garden with my first HP since 2020, but it was for a good CITI approval. But gardening definitely helped me to get the approval and a better SL, especially since CITI can be a little picky.