@TheRedHat wrote:
@Remedios wrote:This thread should be renamed "Setting your Card Strategy for this hour"
Hey now. I asked beforehand if we could post constant updates.
I feel attacked.
I think posting periodic updates along the way is perfectly appropriate, @TheRedHat! The point was to reflect on where we are now and make plans for the future, trying to think more in the grand scheme of things so that we don't get caught up in the fever of the moment or the impulsive FOTM card applications. One-year plans sound great but many of us find reasons to modify those plans as circumstances (or willpower!) 
changes. Mid-year seems a good place to see how we are all doing with our original plans.
For my 0.02 cents, my stated plan (message 164) is going quite well! 
I've managed to garden for all of 2022 so far (plus most of Nov/Dec 2021) and my new accounts and inquiries are slimming down nicely. If I were to not add any new cards before then, on August 16th I would be:
- New accounts: 0/6; 1/12; 1/24
- And since that only new card was an AMEX with a SP, my inquiries would be 0/6; 0/12; 0/24 on all three CRBs!
Meanwhile, so far in 2022, I've continued to grow my TCL in soft pulls with $73.5K increases on my AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, Capital One Quicksilver, Discover IT, Citi/Costco, and NFCU Platinum cards. 
I still have plans for two or three stategic applications in the last half of the year but one or two of those will be business cards which won't report to my personal credit file and may even be a SP application.
@Aim_High wrote:
@TheRedHat wrote:
@Remedios wrote:This thread should be renamed "Setting your Card Strategy for this hour"
Hey now. I asked beforehand if we could post constant updates.
I feel attacked.I think posting periodic updates along the way is perfectly appropriate, @TheRedHat! The point was to reflect on where we are now and make plans for the future, trying to think more in the grand scheme of things so that we don't get caught up in the fever of the moment or the impulsive FOTM card applications. One-year plans sound great but many of us find reasons to modify those plans as circumstances (or willpower!)
For my 0.02 cents, my stated plan (message 164) is going quite well!
- New accounts: 0/6; 1/12; 1/24
- And since that only new card was an AMEX with a SP, my inquiries would be 0/6; 0/12; 0/24 on all three CRBs!
Meanwhile, so far in 2022, I've continued to grow my TCL in soft pulls with $73.5K increases on my AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, Capital One Quicksilver, Discover IT, Citi/Costco, and NFCU Platinum cards.
My intial goals of BofA and Affinity have worked out well, still to come in my initial plans is the product change from CSP to CSR in July. The AOD CLI I'm waiting to hear on, but was submitted 2 weeks ago.
I've added, uh, "side quests" along the way as long as they did not mess up my goals with those 4 cards. So far, adding the Gemini and Curve cards, as well as the AmEx Gold as soon as I finished the SUB on the Platinum has worked out swimmingly.
I'm now contemplating getting AmEx Green and/or the Blue Cash Everyday AmEx as well in July.
The driving reason to get the BCE is actually because I'm unhappy with the APR I was given last year and AmEx seems unwilling to lower it, although they are happy to give me the lowest APRs on new cards. Then I realized it would be smart to do for the SUB for future upgrade/downgrades if I decide to go that route.
The Green would be along the lines as well of knocking out the SUB so as to open up that card as a downgrade option in the future without concern of losing out on the SUB (which Resy is still offering a good one for). Seeing as my Platinum is the high end of the APR spectrum, and the Gold is the low end, it's likely I'd close the Platinum in the future and convert one of the others to that for the long-term. But I'm the meantime, I'm paying no AFs so it's worth pushing my luck while that's still the case to get these "knocked out".
I really can't see anything else on the horizon after trying my luck at those two for the next few years, however. Just keep trying to get credit lines all to 25k (two of my new ones, BofA and Gemini started at 21k, so I expect to "fix" that at 6 months on them), and then some future tightening up of the lineup (mostly the AmExs, but possibly axe the Chase Amazon now that I have Affinity) after the cards have been open minimum 2 years each.
Biz - 
Authorized User - 
Debit Cards - 
Started my 2nd rebuild after a failed rebuild in 2019. Started the year in low 600s, consolidated my cc debts and now hovering around 720's meeting my goal as of this past week. 35% UTIL that's getting lower by the months, and 3 cards with 3-4x 30/60 lates in 2016. My plan is to garden for 2-3 more months until 3rd party credit score trackers like the ones on Discover, Amex, Cap1, etc that show Vantage score all get on the same page. Tested some pre-approvals with Cap1 and got denied and saw they were looking at old scores. So I'm waiting to see pre-approvals from AmEx as a way to confirm that lenders are looking at my most current correct scores (I heard usually AmEx looks at scores from the last 2 months of report for reference). Once I'm confident my Good to Very Good scores are consistent:
- I'll be going for some SP CLIs (to keep my scores solid) with AmEx Bonvoy and AmEx Delta Plat for about $16K more to get $34K across cards to avoid POI review, as well as hit the love button with Disco and Cap1. Hoping to raise my TCL before i start app spree.
- Then I'd like to do some SP apps with AmEx (hopefully that goes smoothly if by then they've already given me $34K total across my existing 2 cards). Been eyeing AmEX Gold, and/or maybe AmEx Reserve. I'd rather app for the Reserve vs. upgrading so I can get the SUB.
- I'd really love a Chase Reserve so saving the 2nd spot for that. I'd be 3/24 if i start with AmEx Gold (+ my cc consolidation loan + auto lease from May 2021).
- I'd like to PC my Discover IT Miles to Cashback or Gas & Restaurants for an easy cashback card. 1.5 Miles isn't worth it, and I already get 2x on my Cap1 Venture.
- I'm hoping to find a good Credit Union card so I have a low APR/high CL card in the arsenal. Looking into PenFed or open to recommendations.
- And I'd like to try to get at least 1 business card towards the end of the year.
- Then garden for a while. My goal is to get 2-3 new cards. Increase UTIL from $36.9K to at least $55-60K.
Not sure if this is the best sequence of steps so I truly welcome your suggestions. I just want to make sure I am getting the best possible APR on my apps and new tradelines, give myself time in between cards to achieve SUBs safely, and try to be strategic on where I'll get pulls. Already have 5 HPs on TU (seems everyone loves it), 2 on EX, and 3 on EQ. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk!
personal
biz
Start 1/1/19
Best 11/15/21
Current rebuild
@Aim_High . . . Fantastic post and many comments sum-me-up to the tee . . . but the main one is, "Overly-seeking credit can be addictive", yep, I am going to now only focus on my new business and building business tradelines. I will certainly accept credit limit increases but not apply for any additional personal credit. Thank you so much for posting as I certainly enjoy reading your posts. Best wishes!!!
@unsungivy wrote:
@Aim_High wrote:
@TheRedHat wrote:
@Remedios wrote:This thread should be renamed "Setting your Card Strategy for this hour"
Hey now. I asked beforehand if we could post constant updates.
I feel attacked.I think posting periodic updates along the way is perfectly appropriate, @TheRedHat! The point was to reflect on where we are now and make plans for the future, trying to think more in the grand scheme of things so that we don't get caught up in the fever of the moment or the impulsive FOTM card applications. One-year plans sound great but many of us find reasons to modify those plans as circumstances (or willpower!)
For my 0.02 cents, my stated plan (message 164) is going quite well!
- New accounts: 0/6; 1/12; 1/24
- And since that only new card was an AMEX with a SP, my inquiries would be 0/6; 0/12; 0/24 on all three CRBs!
Meanwhile, so far in 2022, I've continued to grow my TCL in soft pulls with $73.5K increases on my AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant, Capital One Quicksilver, Discover IT, Citi/Costco, and NFCU Platinum cards.
My intial goals of BofA and Affinity have worked out well, still to come in my initial plans is the product change from CSP to CSR in July. The AOD CLI I'm waiting to hear on, but was submitted 2 weeks ago.
I've added, uh, "side quests" along the way as long as they did not mess up my goals with those 4 cards. So far, adding the Gemini and Curve cards, as well as the AmEx Gold as soon as I finished the SUB on the Platinum has worked out swimmingly.
I'm now contemplating getting AmEx Green and/or the Blue Cash Everyday AmEx as well in July.
The driving reason to get the BCE is actually because I'm unhappy with the APR I was given last year and AmEx seems unwilling to lower it, although they are happy to give me the lowest APRs on new cards. Then I realized it would be smart to do for the SUB for future upgrade/downgrades if I decide to go that route.
The Green would be along the lines as well of knocking out the SUB so as to open up that card as a downgrade option in the future without concern of losing out on the SUB (which Resy is still offering a good one for). Seeing as my Platinum is the high end of the APR spectrum, and the Gold is the low end, it's likely I'd close the Platinum in the future and convert one of the others to that for the long-term. But I'm the meantime, I'm paying no AFs so it's worth pushing my luck while that's still the case to get these "knocked out".
I really can't see anything else on the horizon after trying my luck at those two for the next few years, however. Just keep trying to get credit lines all to 25k (two of my new ones, BofA and Gemini started at 21k, so I expect to "fix" that at 6 months on them), and then some future tightening up of the lineup (mostly the AmExs, but possibly axe the Chase Amazon now that I have Affinity) after the cards have been open minimum 2 years each.
I contemplated the same thing after getting the Affinity card, but, it is capped at $3500 a month for Amazon so I decided against it. Plus now Chase is sending me other quarterly offers like we get 5% off home improvement store purchases for the next quarter (only up to $1500, but still nice). I must assume others get the same offers. Last quarter was 5% on gas but of course, the Affinity card eclipsed that with 7% off.
@collics wrote:1. Garden for a full year
2. Get all credit lines to at minimum $2000
Best chances: Apple Card and PayPal Credit
Maybes: Target, Discover
Won't hold my breath: Walmart/cap one, CITI, Dell
Further look ahead 2023: Apply for Chase Amazon and Navy Flagship
Apple and Discover are indeed both over $2000 in 2022. Discover being the more generous of the two surprisingly.
@Anonymous wrote:
@KJinNC wrote:Three years ago, I had a couple of small secured cards and I might have had the Amazon Store Card at $1500 unsecured, not sure about exact dates but that was a major achievement around that time. Made my day that it was unsecured.
At this point, I have pretty much everything I need covered, plus some things I don't really need. I just downgraded my Delta card today from Delta Platinum, because it is just over two years old and I'm not really flying again post-covid so far. I will upgrade it back to at least Gold if I do start traveling again.
I am seriously considering downgrading my Amex Platinum for similar reasons. I do have the CAP statement credit. But still, not sure it adds up for me right now. It did last year with all of the covid statement credits they gave, but this year it's tougher to make the value add up. But I don't know ... undecided.
One of my goal cards has been the Chase Amazon Visa, which I recently got (and how - cannot believe and cannot fully explain the CL). I closed my Amazon Store Card.
It's been an amazing three years for me in terms of credit, starting with essentially blank credit reports with a few derogatory items. For 2022, I'm at a point of optimizing, probably closing as much as I open. I am interested in a Chase core card - might need to wait a month or two to get back under 5/24 - and a USAA card. Both more for the accomplishment than anything else, which probably isn't the best reason to open credit cards ... I'm wishy-washy on them.3 years to 800...! I salute your patience and prudence!
It's all awry for me. 'Planned' it all wrong, in fact there was no plan lol, impulse applying in October and January(incurring tons of rejects), and applying for the wrong cards too?
Thought CO SO had sub, but tricked by Nerdwallet, there is no sub for just Good credit lol(CO website says 3 year history is a prerequisite aside from excellent scores), and I charged tons on that card this year since it had the biggest credit before Disco It approval on February(such as rental car; so it's 1% lol). I really overspent from December to March, and if I timed it right for those expenses to apply for CCs with good sub(and NOT applying so much in October, for example), it would've been terrific. But Disco It CB has no sub either lol(just 1st year 2x). Imagine if I applied for Delta Gold in the 1st quarter; would've satisfied 2k easily.
Now in retrenchment hence not so easy to satisfy those subs now. It should be prudent to apply after 6 months from Disco It CB approval, say August, but probably will still try Delta Gold next month for trip to Seoul(or not lol). Plenty of CB cards now, Citi DC/CFF/CO SO/Disco It CB, so from now on will concentrate on travel cards(applying not too often!). And also hoping for CLIs, especially for CFF and CO SO, Disco it too I guess(too early for now).
Still haven't apped, proud of myself 😅 no auto CLI though especially for CFF 