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I am here hell or high water till July 2013. So many seedlings that need time to root!! MyFico helped me clear the weeds and plant some strong growers, but I cluttered the path with oodles of inquiries so I must return the favor and tend the flock!!!
New seedlings this year
NFCU
Freedom
Barclay
walmart
lowes
Old Navy
Mortgage
Auto
JCP
Weeded
Cap1 x2
Kay
VS
Buckle
Stepped out of the garden after 8 months....to snag a Bank of America Travel rewards card. I thought I would sever my relationship with them but theres really no use. So I figured this would be the perfect card to top off what I already thought was a perfect portfolio
1. Amex Platinum - only use when i'm traveling
2. Chase Sapphire Preferred - book travel and dining
3. Discover More - large purchases, online shopping
4. Bank of America Travel - everyday purchases, just to achieve the 1.5x points
Items on the cutting board -
1. Capital One
2. Barclay Rewards
I don't know how to get rid of these cards or if I should just keep them tucked away as if they don't exist.
In the garden from 8/29 until Valentines day. 6 out of 8 credit cards opened up in the last 2 months so now it is time to garden this NFCU Cash Rewards, use my VS and Express for points and PIF, PIF & Sock drawer Orchard & Applied. Pay down my Military Star Card and use it for smaller purchases.
First time farmer!
This site is great! Back in March I was thinking about buying a house sometime in 2013 so thought it might be a good time to check my credit score. Tried signing up for myFICO but they couldn't generate a score because there was a lack of information. I had lost my previous home to foreclosure at the beginning of the real estate crash in 2006 and vowed not to use any credit again. I know, I know, stupid move on my part. So I started reading these forums....reading some more.....and more.... Boy this can become addicting!
So after learning a tremendous amount of great information from all the wonderful people on here this is what I did:
Pulled all 3 reports and fixed/had deleted 3 old baddies.
Applied for a secured Cap1 with $1000 CL in April.
Applied for a secured BoA with $500 CL in June.
Right after the BoA card reported in June myFICO was able to generate my first EQ score 658. Not too bad I thought!
One month later in July my EQ score jumped to 683!
August rolls around and I'm getting the itch. I really wanted 2 more cards to add to my small portfolio. These would be unsecured cards and I was worried about approval because of my lack of history. My plan was to wait until October before apping for them so at least my Cap1 would be 6 months old. But the itch just got too great.
Applied for a Walmart card and was approved for a $500 CL in mid-August!
Applied for a AMEX Zync card and was approved for $500 with Auto pay the next day!
3 days after the Zync approval I received a pre-approval letter from Discover! I was like WOW this can't be happening! I was hesitant to apply for Discover with so little history and such toy limits on my current cards. I thought about applying for 2 days before tearing up the letter and throwing it in the trash. I didn't want to be tempted anymore. My thoughts are that they will send me another offer down the road if they really want me as a customer and I need to start worrying about increasing my CL if I can on my next cards. I am trying to only apply for cards that will help with my long term goals. The only card I have to work with right now is the Walmart card. It is the only one that doesn't have a CL that is locked down. Hopefully within the next year I can get a few generous CLI from GE.
So with my 683 EQ FICO score this is what I have in my wallet:
Cap1 Secured 4/12 $1000CL
BoA Secured 6/12 $500CL
Walmart 8/12 $500CL
AMEX Zync 8/12 $500CL w/Autopay
I'm in the garden until May or June of 2013 when it is time to get a mortgage. No more CC until September of 2013.
Thanks go out to everyone on this site for all the great insights into the thoughts of the great FICO credit gods!
Okay....A question....
My foreclosure is scheduled to fall off in December of 2012. How much do you think this is hurting my score at this point?
I am officially entering the garden today after purchasing a new car yesterday. Because of everything I have learned here, I was able to qualify for the promo interest rate of 0.9% on my new car, and I only took a single HP on Equifax (scored a 777, I'm sure it was auto-enhanced).
I am committed to tending to my seedlings and just watching my garden grow. Can't wait to pick up a bronze spade in 30 days!
*Edited to correct typos.
@cschick wrote:I definitely got some itching late in August got a small soft increase on my Discover $750 increase to $2500 total limit. Got my bronze spade to dig around and try to save up some $$$ for my first house(still barely out on the horizon) and max up my cc rewards. Cheers!*Raising a Schlafy Oatmeal Stout to my fellow gardeners* Now i need to sit on my hands and not hit anymore luv buttons or app buttons for a few months.
That's a nice increase! Congrats!
@jamie123 wrote:First time farmer!
This site is great! Back in March I was thinking about buying a house sometime in 2013 so thought it might be a good time to check my credit score. Tried signing up for myFICO but they couldn't generate a score because there was a lack of information. I had lost my previous home to foreclosure at the beginning of the real estate crash in 2006 and vowed not to use any credit again. I know, I know, stupid move on my part. So I started reading these forums....reading some more.....and more.... Boy this can become addicting!
So after learning a tremendous amount of great information from all the wonderful people on here this is what I did:
Pulled all 3 reports and fixed/had deleted 3 old baddies.
Applied for a secured Cap1 with $1000 CL in April.
Applied for a secured BoA with $500 CL in June.
Right after the BoA card reported in June myFICO was able to generate my first EQ score 658. Not too bad I thought!
One month later in July my EQ score jumped to 683!
August rolls around and I'm getting the itch. I really wanted 2 more cards to add to my small portfolio. These would be unsecured cards and I was worried about approval because of my lack of history. My plan was to wait until October before apping for them so at least my Cap1 would be 6 months old. But the itch just got too great.
Applied for a Walmart card and was approved for a $500 CL in mid-August!
Applied for a AMEX Zync card and was approved for $500 with Auto pay the next day!
3 days after the Zync approval I received a pre-approval letter from Discover! I was like WOW this can't be happening! I was hesitant to apply for Discover with so little history and such toy limits on my current cards. I thought about applying for 2 days before tearing up the letter and throwing it in the trash. I didn't want to be tempted anymore. My thoughts are that they will send me another offer down the road if they really want me as a customer and I need to start worrying about increasing my CL if I can on my next cards. I am trying to only apply for cards that will help with my long term goals. The only card I have to work with right now is the Walmart card. It is the only one that doesn't have a CL that is locked down. Hopefully within the next year I can get a few generous CLI from GE.
So with my 683 EQ FICO score this is what I have in my wallet:
Cap1 Secured 4/12 $1000CL
BoA Secured 6/12 $500CL
Walmart 8/12 $500CL
AMEX Zync 8/12 $500CL w/Autopay
I'm in the garden until May or June of 2013 when it is time to get a mortgage. No more CC until September of 2013.
Thanks go out to everyone on this site for all the great insights into the thoughts of the great FICO credit gods!
Okay....A question....
My foreclosure is scheduled to fall off in December of 2012. How much do you think this is hurting my score at this point?
Those are good thoughts! Yes, you're on Discover's radar now, so as your history continues to age and improve, they'll continue to send you with offers, and probably with better terms. Hang in there and before you know it you'll be able to get good cards with better limits. You're off to a good start.
As for your foreclosure, that's considered a major derog. When my last major derog -- a CO -- fell off my reports, I got a 42 point boost to my EQ score! Cards that were denied to me 10 months prior were then granted to me, and with nice limits. The good news is that there's light at the end of the tunnel. I think that you'll see doors open up for you after December. Best wishes on your continued credit journey.
@RockinRay wrote:I'm still here...
No wants, no needs.
Just want the CLI's!
Goals are $10k with both Cap 1 and Discover. today they currently sit at $5k.
I'm feeling the same way. This is the first time in a VERY, VERY long time, that I've been able to look inside my wallet and feel -- contented! There's nothing more that I want at this point in time, nothing else that would fill any particular need in my garden; all the niches have been filled.This is such a wonderful feeling!
Now, the only thing that I really want is to gain age. My older, rebuilder accounts -- plus a backdated Amex -- will help to mitigate the ding to my AAoA. My goal is to hang onto my new cards long term and develop some really good depth of history with them. The only possibility is a backdated Amex revolver in January -- IF -- my AAoA takes too much of a hit. Yes, I could get out a calculator or spreadsheet and crunch the numbers now, but I'm just going to wait for my reports to update. Even if I calculate out my AAoA, I still won't know how much of a score hit I'll be taking as a result. So, I reserve the right to try to add a backdated Amex to my portfolio in January, but if my scores are still respectable I may just pass on it.