Gardening Advice - How do you resist applying?

[yfan]

Well, you might consider blocking MyFico from your browser. 

Seriously, though, everyone here had good advice. In addition, do your research. If you really want a card, make yourself give a dang good answer as to why. Is the card really everything you think it is? Do you really want the things the card offers? Given your other cards, will you ever be able to build up enough rewards on the new card to really feel rewarded?

Oh, and there's a better chance of getting SP CLIs on your current cards when you are a good gardener.

[Anonymous]

What if tomorrow a new truly amazing card came out and I'd just burned my low inqs on a card I did not realy need so much as I just wanted it?  Now I don't get approved for the new card I really do need and like!  That helps me anyway lol.

So far I have gone slow and steady, I might do two in a day but it will be months after the last one or two.  I so far have 2 inqs, 3 inqs, and 3 inqs at the three CRAs over the last two years. One Chase card pulled two places, and I have a car pull on there also.  Out of 6 real inquirys for credit cards I got 5 cards in the last year, only one was wasted (at AmEx and am now glad as I do not have a real use for that card) so I am doing pretty good.  Waiting until Jan/Feb to get a new card at this point.  I started this year with one Cap 1 card with a $750 limit.  I'm now at 20k.

Whatever I'm doing is working for me so I'm happy with the slow and steady approach.  I will get to 8 cards as my personal limit, so I'm being picky.  The next card I'm getting will replace one I already have so I'll be at 6 that I like.  Waiting to see what my final 2 will be.

[Callandra]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

Stay away from the approvals section here. Use the cards you have, rack up the rewards, pay down/off the balances. Avoid temptation like Callandra said with simple logic. If we end up with too many cards, we just end up with $2 in rewards spread across 10 cards, which is pointless.

Keep it all in perspective too. Sometimes "extra" rewards can seem enticing but are not especially meaningful with certain spend. For example, my BCE earns 3% on groceries and I get 2% with my Double Cash. While 3% is more than 2% obviously, my actual spend at grocery stores that aren't BJ's/Target is only $100-$120 a month, so the BCE is earning me a whole extra $1 or $1.20 per month over what a Double Cash on that spend would. The point is that realistically, I don't need it. I keep it open for the occasional Amex offer, but reward wise, it doesn't give me any huge leap. Think this through before applying. With the cost of everything these days and the fact that $1.20 a month barely buys a candy bar, you may not need what you think you do.

Also it is rewarding to see inqs fall off and AAOA increase. You can monitor inqs falling off for free with Credit Karma, Credit Sesame etc. They use a different method of counting AAOA, AFAIK, but it's still useful to see that it is growing.

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To be honest, I learned this from you! I never thought about it when I first started credit but when I had other cards and reading your posts, I realized that having so many with my spend was pointless (since my spend is low anyway) and I didn't want to wait so long for rewards since there are minimums to redeem. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I'm new to myfico and my credit journey. Said to myself I was only going to apply to one card - applied to CapOne QS1 - got it 2000K CL. I didn't know anything about cards at the time and realized I would benefit from the rotating categories on a Discover It or Chase Freedom. Waited a month - applied for Chase Freedom - got it 1500 CL. Now I'm super tempted by other cards, I know its a bad move to make and I really don't need anymore per say. How do you stay in the garden with all the attractive fruit?

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Others gave good advice, so I won't!   Just point out that getting a $2M CL on your first card is really pretty good, and you almost certainly don't need another one for any conceivable utilization issues.

(Those "K"s and "000" rarely mix well.)

[kdm31091]

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@Callandra wrote:

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@kdm31091 wrote:

Stay away from the approvals section here. Use the cards you have, rack up the rewards, pay down/off the balances. Avoid temptation like Callandra said with simple logic. If we end up with too many cards, we just end up with $2 in rewards spread across 10 cards, which is pointless.

Keep it all in perspective too. Sometimes "extra" rewards can seem enticing but are not especially meaningful with certain spend. For example, my BCE earns 3% on groceries and I get 2% with my Double Cash. While 3% is more than 2% obviously, my actual spend at grocery stores that aren't BJ's/Target is only $100-$120 a month, so the BCE is earning me a whole extra $1 or $1.20 per month over what a Double Cash on that spend would. The point is that realistically, I don't need it. I keep it open for the occasional Amex offer, but reward wise, it doesn't give me any huge leap. Think this through before applying. With the cost of everything these days and the fact that $1.20 a month barely buys a candy bar, you may not need what you think you do.

Also it is rewarding to see inqs fall off and AAOA increase. You can monitor inqs falling off for free with Credit Karma, Credit Sesame etc. They use a different method of counting AAOA, AFAIK, but it's still useful to see that it is growing.

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To be honest, I learned this from you! I never thought about it when I first started credit but when I had other cards and reading your posts, I realized that having so many with my spend was pointless (since my spend is low anyway) and I didn't want to wait so long for rewards since there are minimums to redeem. 

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Right....it takes me forever to rack up enough to redeem on my BCE for example. Less is definitely more with number of cards as far as rewards go, especially with many of them having redemption minimums.

[Cory]

Yes, the one and only wise "Kdm31091"

I just wanted to tell you that I am a fan, and follow you too. Well, follow your post here. Great advice, mush appreciated.

Keep up the great work!

[Anonymous]

I have a specific goal and a plan and I only make moves that further my plan. Right now my plan requires me to garden.

But having a specific goal helps.

My next moves: car loan in November, immediately followed by PLOC app, then garden until mortgage app.

Apping another card now would hurt the interest rates I will get so I garden. In November a bunch of INQ's roll over the 1 year mark and I will coincidentally have saved enough towards a car purchase that I can make it a 1 year loan and pay it fast.

So that goal keeps me in the garden.

Once I get that my next move will be a new PLOC so I can move my banking to my CU. I won't move until I get the PLOC since I use PLOC as overdraft to ensure no payments bounce. And I can't app the PLOC yet because I am gardening for the car.

That is MY plan but if you have your own plan out will help you make only the right moves and not go app happy for things that don't fit your plan.

[Imperfectfuture]

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@Anonymous wrote:

In my case it's my crappy score LOL

I tell my family and other half ad nauseum when I apply and they are well versed in guilt tripping and shaming. That puts an end to my desire to app again actually.

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Same for me, it was crappy score.  I wanted my reports cleaned.  Only had secured credit union card, first national bank SD legacy card, and applied too soon for cap one.

As soon asEX clean, got Amex with low apr (EX jumped to 770 due to gardening, cap one had yet to report).  Found out, even if I waited, subsequent apps had higher apr.

Right now, it's gardening because of a fluke.  Was granted Barclays US Airways (now aviator) at 5k, arrived 10k.  With a HP cli for freedom, I doubled my total available credit overnight.  Amex took notice, even without the new discover showing up.  No CLI on business card, citing  available credit.  They don't have a problem if accounts not all new (except for CU card, and closed legacy, all accounts acquired since September 2014, not even a year old). My  Attu score has sat at 746 for ages, so time to put more effort in thickening file (age accounts), and try to get up to 780 (get lower apr's).

[Imperfectfuture]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
I'm new to myfico and my credit journey. Said to myself I was only going to apply to one card - applied to CapOne QS1 - got it 2000K CL. I didn't know anything about cards at the time and realized I would benefit from the rotating categories on a Discover It or Chase Freedom. Waited a month - applied for Chase Freedom - got it 1500 CL. Now I'm super tempted by other cards, I know its a bad move to make and I really don't need anymore per say. How do you stay in the garden with all the attractive fruit?

---

Others gave good advice, so I won't!   Just point out that getting a $2M CL on your first card is really pretty good, and you almost certainly don't need another one for any conceivable utilization issues.

(Those "K"s and "000" rarely mix well.)

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Buzzkill.