Left the Garden... but it was worth it!

[cmthomas06]

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Revelate wrote:

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Since you actually have to use your credit report to accomplish many beneficial things, gardening for the sake of gardening is kinda inane.

If you're not looking for a big ticket item (house, possibly new car loan or refinance) then arguably the best possible thing you can do with your FICO score is to get CLI's to the magic 5K boundary which qualifies you for the very top tier of publically available credit cards (Amex BCP excepted).

End of the day, there's more important things than just havng a FICO score for the sake of a FICO score; while there's probably better ways to get to a 5K CL than repeated HP's, it's not a poor choice in this case, and it's nowhere close to the end of the world.

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Im actually trying to garden since Im going to be taking out $80k+ in private loans in order to pay for schooling next year. Not saying its the end of the world that I left; Im just trying to get my score to be as good as possible in order to get the best loan rates. Besides, its practically impossible for me to get a 5k limit on a card when I work part-time. Having a nice, healthy FICO score just makes me feel more financially secure. 

[cmthomas06]

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@gettnthere wrote:

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@cmthomas06 wrote:

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@LTomBerry wrote:

Umm, I think you actually stayed in the garden. Our definition of "gardening" is: not applying for any new cards, instead you just tend to the ones you've got by growing their limits and age, which you have done.

Is it still gardening if it took a HP? Uh, sure, I think so.<<<< a little off here on the info...

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oh, I thought it was if you got an inq either from a new app or CLI then you were out. Thats even better then! 

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i hate to bring bad news, but while gardening you can NOT take any kind of HP whatsoever even if it is for a CLI. the only way around that is to get CLI via SP. so while i congratulate the OP on the CLI hes technically having to re-start in the gardening. Remember, when your in the Garden the goal is to tend to ones's current tradelines and watch them grow and to not take ANY HP's whatsoever. but CONGRATS, nonetheless

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Thanks, Gettnthere!

[cmthomas06]

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@tinuviel wrote:

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I'm one of the biggest gardeing proponents on this forum, but I do agree that one shouldn't garden just for the sake of gardening. Credit is a tool, and if it makes sense to apply for a new account or take a HP to get an increase, then this is what one should do. The flip side is that apping just for the sake of apping is harmful, and at some point everyone needs to sit back and allow things to age, to "garden." But if getting a good CLI makes strategic sense, then I agree that it's a good move.

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I went for the increase since Im going to be looking into moving away from Crap1 sometime in the next year, so it was strategic. I use my Freedom more anyways