Retired, what to put for income

[hawaii-girl]

A friend of mine stumped me with a question. She's retired and living on social security, but with significant savings and investments. She wants to app for the Costco Amex, and is wondering what to put down for income. The social security income is probably around $20K (my guess), so might not put her in a good position for Amex. How should she handle this?

[peaceonearth]

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@hawaii-girl wrote:

A friend of mine stumped me with a question. She's retired and living on social security, but with significant savings and investments. She wants to app for the Costco Amex, and is wondering what to put down for income. The social security income is probably around $20K (my guess), so might not put her in a good position for Amex. How should she handle this?

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Oops, I missed the savings & investments. I am not an accountant or a CPA but, I guess she can include her income from all investments and AD it to the social security income.

If $20,000 is her total income, that's what she needs to put on the application.

Not too long ago, I read a member put around 12K and was approved for a few thousand dollars.

[Imperfectfuture]

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@hawaii-girl wrote:

A friend of mine stumped me with a question. She's retired and living on social security, but with significant savings and investments. She wants to app for the Costco Amex, and is wondering what to put down for income. The social security income is probably around $20K (my guess), so might not put her in a good position for Amex. How should she handle this?

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I did this, am retired. According to allowable income from cfpb, retirement income is also counted.  She would want to divide the portfolio value by the amount of years it would last, and add to income.  Conversely, if the portfolio is part of inheritance later, take the annual distributions (if she knows this), and add it to income.  I have brokerage account, and if can divide by as many years as want, and add to income.  You can google for allowable income cfpb, and read the regs, or take my word for it.

With that large a portfolio, would simply add the annual distributions she gets for income.  IF Amex ever asks for financial records, be prepared to have social security docs, annual distribution paperwork, and any investment account information ready to print and go.

[hawaii-girl]

OK, thanks for the info. Good to know she can use the portfolio as income. I'm sure that will be better than just using SS!

[hawaii-girl]

ok, so now she tells me she used to have an amex back in the 80's. can the costco amex be backdated?

[Anonymous]

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@hawaii-girl wrote:

ok, so now she tells me she used to have an amex back in the 80's. can the costco amex be backdated?

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Yes it can. She should ask them to set her "Membership Start Date" back to her original start date. Unfortunately, she will need some information about her old account or Amex might not be able to find it. From other posts here it seems like they are hit and miss when it comes to accounts from the 80s. Sometimes they automatically find it without anyone asking and at others they can't find it without card numbers or other information.

[coldnmn]

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@hawaii-girl wrote:

ok, so now she tells me she used to have an amex back in the 80's. can the costco amex be backdated?

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Be sure she asks to have her member since date corrected not backdated. Asking to have backdateing causes problems.

[hawaii-girl]

I'll let her know. Sounds like this could turn out to be a sweet deal for her. 

[PandiferBear]

Just to add here. I am not sure what the Amex Costco cards asks for upon application, but I know that the regular applications through Amex ask about the value of your assets. That would be a good place to put her asset information, while keeping her income what it really is. Just a thought.

[WLRK11]

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@hawaii-girl wrote:

A friend of mine stumped me with a question. She's retired and living on social security, but with significant savings and investments. She wants to app for the Costco Amex, and is wondering what to put down for income. The social security income is probably around $20K (my guess), so might not put her in a good position for Amex. How should she handle this?

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Keep in mind that the Costco AMEX might be going away very, very soon. At that point, she might get a new card in the mail with a Visa, MC, or Discover (yuck!) logo.