@Crowhelm wrote:
Well, how much a month and a half can change things, lol
As you can see in my signature Affinty and AOD are now in our posession. Chase Freedom Flex is not closed yet. My wife got another call from a guy telling her he is working on a solution. Who knows what that means. But she wants to wait until the final word. Fair enough I guess. I guess if they at least bump it up to 5K we will hang on to it.
In a way I badly want to close it but I also like the fact that my wife is getting involved a bit more, other than just using the cards. So we will see
So strategy for 2022 will be rather easy. Use our best cashback cards AOD, Affinity's, Citi Custom Cash's and Amazon Prime and everything else sitting at zero and just used occasionaly.
Only goals really will be to age stuff, get our scores in the 800's and get the SUB's on our two Affinty cards. Not just the early one after spending 3K in three month but also the 20K in 12 months bonus. That would be $400 for each card.
Of course if a really great new card comes along things might change, lol
Well, I am pretty much going for two more credit union cards for 2022. As my signature shows. the Affinity card will be first. Opened an account (btw, they let me fund it using a credit card....lol, score, 2% back...lol) with them and will use their 1% cashback debit at places like WinCo. They accept debit but not credit. Hopefully, in 4 to 6 months I will get an offer. And no I am not holding my breath for an offer like @JNA1 got from them. But 10K and up would be nice. If the rumors I heard come true and BECU will step up their game I might scrap a second CU card since it would be a piece of cake to get a great limit with them with the great history we have with them. My cards are solid, with great limits. My wife had a bit of a setback since Chase reneged on their original 10K CL on her Freedom Flex. She has a measly $1600 limit on that card now which makes it practically useless because we could never have even a $600 statement balance report. And I refuse to pay before the due date, well let me rephrase that, refuse to pay weeks before the due date. We are fighting with them about it but it is a bank, so not much hope to change anything. So this card maybe needs to be replaced. Her scores are on average 15 points (or more) higher than mine yet I got way better limits. Her best was the Citi Custom Cash, but even that is $1k under my limit.
Is there a place where we can just talk about our current strategy, how we are doing, any changes we are making or thoughts we are having and where we are planning to go from here? Or should we put all of that here?
Last update: 4/8/2024
After being approved for 9-10 cards in 2020, I felt it best to give my credit a break. My most recent approval was back in Dec 2020 so I've already been in The Garden a while but I plan to extend my stay for additional accounts seasoning. I've also frozen all credit profiles to provide somewhat of a firewall for any impulse applications while avoiding the credit approvals section of this forum. (It always gives me the itch to submit an app)
Sadly, there are three negative items from 2015 reporting on my profiles so I'll be working on clearing them up. Worst case scenario, they're scheduled for deletion this year so The Garden will devour those, eventually. Coincidentally, the DOD and my "over 5/24" accounts overlap, so I'll apply for a couple of Chase products shortly after. (biz and personal)
My 2022 Strategy is simple: Stay in the garden. Keep utilization under 5%. Work the process.
Starting FICO 8s | 06/2018: EX 601 ✦ EQ 605 ✦ TU 590
My Petal 2 Visa received an auto CLI of $500 and an increase to 1.25% cashback after 6 months of responsible use. In another 6 months, it will receive another CLI and will be 1.5% cashback. This card is a placeholder (one small recurring charge every month) while I wait for "better" cards to come my way. I acquired a Cap1 Secured QS (1.5% cashback and my only MasterCard) and a NFCU Secured nRewards Visa. These cards will also be placeholders until they graduate.
I also acquired the Affinity Secured Visa, which was a soft pull, but does not graduate. This will also be a placeholder until I acquire their Visa Signature Cash Rewards card later this year. I want this card for the Amazon and bookstore cashback rewards.
I was denied the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards Secured Card, which I'm assuming is because I opened too many accounts recently, so I'm going to wait six months and try for the unsecured version at that time. I want the 3% cashback for online shopping to use for my video gaming hobby.
My Discover It card is my "daily driver." The matching cashback bonus ends in March (one year anniversary), so I'll be looking to apply for the PenFed Power Cash Rewards Visa (2% cashback) to use as my new daily driver after/if my QS and nRewards card graduates this summer.
I'm maintaining a credit utilization of 1-5 percent and my scores are just now breaking into "Good" credit status. So now I just garden until summer.
Hey Fico Fam !
Just wanted to start a fun thread to see what everyones credit card goals/resolutions are this year. Maybe some are wanting to trim off some fat and simplify things or maybe get another 5-10 more cards under there belt lol.
My goal this year is just to try and get limit increases where only a soft pull is needed on the cards i already have. I really want to garden after i get my 2nd card from NFCU . Hopefully that will be the big 25k one ! 
Im thinking some time in feb or march then just garden the rest of the year and see my inquires fall off.
So what goals you all have ? Share Away !
@SUPERSQUID wrote:My 2022 goal would be to stay in the garden and try to grow with NFCU and then cast off some lesser cards. I managed to get all of my goal cards in 2021 but also incurred too many inq's.
My goal cards attained in 2021
Cap 1 savor one 3k sl
NFCU cash rewards 3700 sl
Discover 3k sl
Penfed PCR 7.5k sl
Now my reports are dinged up with mega inq's and new accounts. time to age and grow new accounts and let some inq's drop off, a bunch will sept/oct
I really dont have any goal cards left except maybe the walmart card which i might add down the road.
I havent done too bad since my bk7 dc, and i only started rebuilding in sept/oct 2020, thats about 1.5 years of rebuild.
i burned the biggies like chase so my current lineup is great considering
This forum has been a big part in my rebuild so far, thanks everyone
You have done very well in 1.5 years !
Sounds like me and you in same boat on letting inqs fall off and accounts age.
Thanks for sharing !
