New here! My brief story and a couple of questions if anyone can advise!

[Anonymous]

Bankruptcy 13 in October 2011.  Paid in full November 2015.  Discharged December 28, 2015!  Almost a year now!

I am not certain of my score at the time but likely in mid to high 500s.  I am currently sitting at 632 according to TU.  Its the only one I have since I havent paid to get the others.  CreditKarma shows TU and Experian over 700 though.  I know those traditionally run higher but are false. 

In January opened a secured card $500 with FNB Omaha.  Buy, pay, buy, pay.  But never did I go over 20% utilization.

In July, I applied for and received Cap One QS $3000    Also got $2000 Paypal, no pull no reporting monthly

In August, I applied for and received: NYC (comenity) $250 (I didnt know this was a shopping cart trick at the time as it was pre Fico Forums), Discover IT $1600, Amazon/Syn $800, and Valero $300    Also in August FNB Omaha increased my limit to $650 without me asking nor requiring additional funds from me.  Good sign!!  I called them Monday to ask about moving it to unsecured and after speaking with them looks like that should happen in Nov or Dec that my account looks perfect for that to happen and I will get my $500 back.

In September I applied for and received BofA MC $3000 and Barclay $1600

Additionally in May 2015 while still in BR I went through Trustee to get a loan on a new to me car ($14K and actually not a double digit rate).  I have paid over and above each and every month including the 2 months they sent me notice that I was over paid and no pymt due.  Sent money anyway.

So now I have read up about gardening, and thinking OK thats what I need to do right now.  My question is HOW CAN YOU STAND IT?  I want to apply more!   I have marked my calendars accordingly for each one once their 6th month anniversary comes up.  I'd like to CLI on the 2 higher limit ones obviously.  Those 2 and the Disover IT have the luv button present but I refuse to touch it based on what I'm reading here.  My year end goal is to hit 660.

Questions:  Should I now ask my bank to refi the car?  Lower rate or just not touch anything for this 6month gardening goal I have?  The payments are low so its not a big deal really.    2)  For each month I dont do anything but buy and pay approx how many points will I see my score increase?  average?   3) Whats the secret to not going crazy when gardening?  I am so anxious to keep improving my score but I now know these low limit cards are the devil in helping me do that.

Thanks for listening to yet another newbie!!!

[Anonymous]

I am not certain of my score at the time but likely in mid to high 500s.  I am currently sitting at 632 according to TU.  Its the only one I have since I havent paid to get the others.  CreditKarma shows TU and Experian over 700 though.  I know those traditionally run higher but are false. 

 You can go to creditchecktotal.com to get all of your reports for $1 but you have to cancel before 7 days is up to keep from being charged regular price.

In January opened a secured card $500 with FNB Omaha.  Buy, pay, buy, pay.  But never did I go over 20% utilization.

In July, I applied for and received Cap One QS $3000    Also got $2000 Paypal, no pull no reporting monthly

I'm sure there was a pull done, may have to check all of your reports again. They definitely pull your credit and Cap One pulls all 3. I think paypal is hidden  as far as reporting goes but don't quote me on that.

In August, I applied for and received: NYC (comenity) $250 (I didnt know this was a shopping cart trick at the time as it was pre Fico Forums), Discover IT $1600, Amazon/Syn $800, and Valero $300    Also in August FNB Omaha increased my limit to $650 without me asking nor requiring additional funds from me.  Good sign!!  I called them Monday to ask about moving it to unsecured and after speaking with them looks like that should happen in Nov or Dec that my account looks perfect for that to happen and I will get my $500 back.

In September I applied for and received BofA MC $3000 and Barclay $1600

You're doing really well but as most will tell you....Only apply for credit that is useful to you! I'm not saying you're applying for credit you don't need, just putting it out there.

Additionally in May 2015 while still in BR I went through Trustee to get a loan on a new to me car ($14K and actually not a double digit rate).  I have paid over and above each and every month including the 2 months they sent me notice that I was over paid and no pymt due.  Sent money anyway.

So now I have read up about gardening, and thinking OK thats what I need to do right now.  My question is HOW CAN YOU STAND IT?  I want to apply more!   I have marked my calendars accordingly for each one once their 6th month anniversary comes up.  I'd like to CLI on the 2 higher limit ones obviously.  Those 2 and the Disover IT have the luv button present but I refuse to touch it based on what I'm reading here.  My year end goal is to hit 660. I think you can request a CLI while in the garden as long as it's not a hard pull. Also refer to my comment above about applying for credit. :-)

Questions:  Should I now ask my bank to refi the car?  Lower rate or just not touch anything for this 6month gardening goal I have?  The payments are low so its not a big deal really.    2)  For each month I dont do anything but buy and pay approx how many points will I see my score increase?  average?   3) Whats the secret to not going crazy when gardening?  I am so anxious to keep improving my score but I now know these low limit cards are the devil in helping me do that. I'm no expert on refinancing but I don't think it will hurt to give it a little more time especially since the payments are not extreme. Keep your UTI low and pay before the balances report or above the minimum payment.

Thanks for listening to yet another newbie!!! No problem! :-) I'm still learning new things myself. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

[Anonymous]

Also, making payments when a payment isn't due is a PLUS no matter what!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

[Anonymous]

I meant the Paypal one was a no pull/no reporting (unless you are late from what I understand).  The others yes, those were pulled.  Thanks I will go and do the 7 day thing and get my scores for the other 2.  Both my BofA and Discover show the 632 as being TransU.

Thank you!!

ps.  are you a Texan but living in Jersey?  Or does that mean a houston Texans jersey??  lol.  Texan here is why I ask!

[Anonymous]

I'm actually from NJ and living in TX. Ha! Also......before you do the creditchecktotal, go to annualcreditreport.com if you haven't already. You can get full detailed credit reports free. You won't get the scores free but you can have a clear understanding of how your reports look.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Bankruptcy 13 in October 2011.  Paid in full November 2015.  Discharged December 28, 2015!  Almost a year now!

I am not certain of my score at the time but likely in mid to high 500s.  I am currently sitting at 632 according to TU.  Its the only one I have since I havent paid to get the others.  CreditKarma shows TU and Experian over 700 though.  I know those traditionally run higher but are false. 

In January opened a secured card $500 with FNB Omaha.  Buy, pay, buy, pay.  But never did I go over 20% utilization.

In July, I applied for and received Cap One QS $3000    Also got $2000 Paypal, no pull no reporting monthly

In August, I applied for and received: NYC (comenity) $250 (I didnt know this was a shopping cart trick at the time as it was pre Fico Forums), Discover IT $1600, Amazon/Syn $800, and Valero $300    Also in August FNB Omaha increased my limit to $650 without me asking nor requiring additional funds from me.  Good sign!!  I called them Monday to ask about moving it to unsecured and after speaking with them looks like that should happen in Nov or Dec that my account looks perfect for that to happen and I will get my $500 back.

In September I applied for and received BofA MC $3000 and Barclay $1600

Additionally in May 2015 while still in BR I went through Trustee to get a loan on a new to me car ($14K and actually not a double digit rate).  I have paid over and above each and every month including the 2 months they sent me notice that I was over paid and no pymt due.  Sent money anyway.

So now I have read up about gardening, and thinking OK thats what I need to do right now.  My question is HOW CAN YOU STAND IT?  I want to apply more!   I have marked my calendars accordingly for each one once their 6th month anniversary comes up.  I'd like to CLI on the 2 higher limit ones obviously.  Those 2 and the Disover IT have the luv button present but I refuse to touch it based on what I'm reading here.  My year end goal is to hit 660.

Questions:  Should I now ask my bank to refi the car?  Lower rate or just not touch anything for this 6month gardening goal I have?  The payments are low so its not a big deal really.    2)  For each month I dont do anything but buy and pay approx how many points will I see my score increase?  average?   3) Whats the secret to not going crazy when gardening?  I am so anxious to keep improving my score but I now know these low limit cards are the devil in helping me do that.

Thanks for listening to yet another newbie!!!

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1) I would only refi the car if there is a bunch of money to be saved in doing so.

2) Impossible to even guess. Too many variables. Normally you see points gains whenever items age in whole year increments (both positives and negatives), and when AAoA increments a whole year.

3) You're geuss is as good as mine.

When the Cap One card is six months old, request a CLI on it (you can actually do that any time, its not a HP), and you can app for a second one.  Other than that I would suggest just standing pat with what you got. The Cap One will grow fast as your scores improve.

[Anonymous]

Too late!  I paid my $1   I had gone to freecreditreport before but yeah it wouldnt show me the scores.  I've been getting my reports and free info from CKarma which I obsessively monitor weekly since thats when it updates.

So here is what I now know:  TransU is 644    Experian is 666    Equifax is 662

I forgot to mention I also have a student loan I am paying off in great standing by the way (somehow it was not incl in my BR so after discharge I had to make loan with Navient to pay it back)   Also paying double payments there as well.  Reason I mention it because the report talk about the installment loan balance which includes my car and the student loan. 

So I guess my scores are ok for just being under a year out of BR.  Now I just want them to get 660 for TU and I guess my next goal is just to hit 700 by May 2017.

[Anonymous]

How do I stand gardening? 

Well, after the initial wave of wanting to apply for anything and everything (but not doing it) it's become easier. Having a long term goal is also helpful. For me it, initially, was getting my scores up enough to qualify for a nice rate when it comes to buying a pickup truck. That's morphed into buying a home now, so that's the goal, and I know that anything I do (ESPECIALLY negatively) will push me away from the goal rather than bringing me closer to it. 

Hard to say how much of a points increase you'll see while gardening ... we're all unique situations. It also depends on what else is on your reports. You will see an increase. For me, from April 1 (when I basically started gardening) til today, I've seen a 26 point increase, but again, that's making my payments AND paying off/having deleted old collections. 

It's not a fast fix ... it takes time, and as long as my scores keep climbing, I know I'm doing the right things

[Anonymous]

Thank you for all that information!  I have the calendar marked for the 6 months on all, but yeah the 2 higher limit ones are the ones I want to concentrate on now that Ive basically read every thread in these forums!

As far as the car goes, nope it wont save a lot of money so thats why I am content with it as it is.  My payments are at $263 and its a GREAT car.  I worked for EIGHT hours to get the car and price I wanted knowing I had to present it and the need to my trustee.