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Greetings, fellow credit gardeners! The summer is rolling along and we're ready to start a new month. And so, I hereby convene the August 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. We have a full featured gass grill, so burgers, hot dogs, and kebobs are available for your dining pleasure! We continue our summer menu with fresh corn on the cob, and we're adding a mixed seafood platter -- steamed little neck clams, steamed crab legs, a chilled shrimp ring with cocktail sauce, and mini crab cakes and conch fritters with remoulade sauce for dipping! There's iced tea, lemonade and sodas, and if you like, a variety of ice cold beers. We'll continue chilling out this summer with a variety of frozen ice cream treats and gelatos, as well as slices of cold, fresh watermelon. And as always, we have a selection of mini-quiches, as Relevate really likes them. 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:
You will be able to add the following to your siggy if you have abided by the above for the following time periods...
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!!!
Bronze:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/LEYWe.png" border="0" width="40" height="40" align="right">
SIlver:
line to put at top of sig:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/Gfc4B.png" border="0" width="40" height="40" align="right">
Gold:
line to put at top of sig:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/24xvV.png" border="0" width="40" height="40" align="right">
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:
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/40nIa.png" border="0" alt="" title="" width="40" height="40" align="right" />
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.
I´m reporting to the monthly meeting here. I went on an app spree last month and got 9/9 cards. I am currently gardening till August 2013 and hoping the day my SSN meets an app comes when expected. I am unsure of whether or not I am going to be able to reach my score goals in this time frame but I will certainly do my best to keep my util low and keep using only what I need.
1st month newbie recruit here.
No apps since December 2011.
Current stable is:
UIECU UIAA Rewards Visa $24.2K
PSECU PSL/Visa $20K
Alliant Platinum Rewards Visa $17K
Barclaycard Rewards Platinum MC $10K
Nordstrom Visa Signature $8K
State Farm Platinum Rewards Visa $3K
Dell Preferred $3K
Macy's Red Card $2.5K
Still hanging in there, holding onto my gold spade. As I mentioned last month, I had a CA and CO age off my reports. I'm just waiting for the last CO to fall off my reports this month, and then I'll be CO/CA free! It's been a long wait, but it feels so good to see light at the end of the tunnel. I'm feeling optimistic that this fall I'll be in good shape to app for the cards that I would like to add to my wallet. After then it will be back to the garden, to let the aging process start over once again!
(ETA) Current view of my garden:
Cap1 Visa Platinum - 6400 CL
Cap1 NHCR MC - 750 CL
Dillard's Amex - 4200 CL
JC Penney - 2300 CL
Kay Jewelers - 5100 CL
Amex Green - NPSL
Woo-Hoo, can't believe it's another month of Gardening already! Keep up the good work everyone. I'm bringing some Roasted jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon!
Hey Everyone,
I’ve resumed gardening with a vengeance now, as my PenFed auto refinance was approved and I also got hit with the (expected, but not happy about it) inquiry for my last student loan. Hopefully the rest of the year will be kind to me score wise – would love to hit my year end goal of 720 scores.
Can’t wait until 8/19 to pick up my bronze spade.
Hello all...still here.
I have the itch to app for Discover after seeing what score bump I can get with reported UTIL down. I'm trying to get one card above $500...$1,000 would be better of course. My EQ score is 668 right now...seems like I could get a nice boost if UTIL gets under 30%...
I also plan on asking for a CLI on my Household card since it'll be six months old...