What counts as income?

[SecretAzure]

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@Anonymous wrote:

To answer everyone's questions, 

My SL on marriott is $5k, the lowest that card goes (not yet reporting).

USAA started at $500, now at $1500 with 50% reporting. 

CapOne started at $500, now at $2000, 0% reporting. 

I was just approved for AmEx BCE with SL $1k, which I would assume is the lowest SL. 

USAA and CapOne were both opened in 2/2016, showing 12 months of on time payments. 

I don't want or need a ton more of avaliable credit, I was mostly just disappointed that my CLI requests on USAA (denied for util, makes sense) and CapOne were denied, and that BCE was so low. Ideally, my total credit limit across all lines would be 50% of my income, either $15k or $30k depending on whether scholarships and grants are being counted. 

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I had a lesser income and was receiving higher limits (except on my Cap1 Secure card which is my first card). I think you're applying too frequently and therefore are looking like a bigger risk to creditors. You are seeking too much credit too quickly and your AAOA is suffering because of it. When this happens, you'll continue getting approvals but you'll notice that limits might be lower. You didn't provide all of this information but it seems like you've applied for 3 new cards over the last 12-13 months. You had history of 2 cards over 1 year old. Your average age of credit is something like 4-7 months...you're not letting your cards age.

For reference, here's my history (if I remember correctly):

Income: 12K

Cap 1 Secured $351-> Upped to $551 (still here)

12 months later

Texaco Chevron MC $4500

Almost a year later

Income: 23K

Amex $5000

2 months later

Amex: $9100 (didn't know about 3X CLI)

My suggestion: Don't apply for more credit for a year. You just got Marriot...congratulations....now sit on it. Let your AAOA hit 1 year and 1 month (at least) before applying for more. Your Amex might be 1K now but it WILL grow. Always request significantly higher than you want on Amex. They will counter offer high.

[Anonymous]

No, scholarship money is not income, as well as GI bill money is not income either. Ask yourself this question: if you'd apply for a mortgage, would they count your scholarship money as income? No, because it is only temporary and you will only receive it for a limited amount of time. Same goes for any other forms of loan/credit applications.

[Anonymous]

Capital One and Discover have asked for my gross yearly income, but Synchrony asked for my net (post-tax/other deductions) income. 

[Anonymous]

I have a question regarding income as well that this topic reminded me about. I make about 26,000 as base pay a year but at my job we can bonus each month by quite a bit. When filling income things out should I just use my base amount or try and factor in possible bonuses?

[Anonymous]

I would average out all your bonuses you've ever had.  I don't run the bank but I figure anything under 50K under the radar.  Especially if bonus is your paycheck as well and not unreported perks. 

[Anonymous]

Reviving this thread for one reason:

When I was filling out my Discover applicatio (the one specifically for students) it told me to include scholarships/grants that can be used for living expeses in my income.