topic Re: Spouse as AU vs getting their own card in Credit Cards

Spouse as AU vs getting their own card

fury1995 — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 22:15:22 GMT

My spouse is authorized on the majority of my cards. I make the majority of the income, work longer hours/have less free time, do less of the household shopping (by far) etc.. I pay the expenses but don't actually do the spending so it made sense, up until now.

Lately, I've concentrated on balancing our credit lines but my dilemna is this; I make about 85% of our $400K+ household income. For all of the cards opened under my spouses name, individual income was used historically. Both have access to all income and assets. I plan on applying for line increases and/or new lines for my spouse.

Is it within reason to state total household income for both? For example, my income with Amex is $400K+ but my spouses income with Amex says $60K. Could I report the same total household ($400K+) income for my spouse? Is that within allowable assumption? I'm not concerned about 4506t requests as we file jointly.

If anyone has data points that has history of doing this, I'd appreciate the feedback.

This is new territory for me.

Re: Spouse as AU vs getting their own card

Remedios — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 22:34:03 GMT

Joint income is fine - unless lender only accepts paystubs or uses ancillary reporting agency for income/employment.

While rule is something along the lines of "reasonable access", you can only prove that by tax return and bank statements but not via paystubs.

CU so not allow joint income unless it's joint account.

Re: Spouse as AU vs getting their own card

fury1995 — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 22:51:29 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
Joint income is fine - unless lender only accepts paystubs or uses ancillary reporting agency for income/employment.
While rule is something along the lines of "reasonable access", you can only prove that by tax return and bank statements but not via paystubs.

CU so not allow joint income unless it's joint account.

Thanks for the feedback.

And thank you for the data point regarding credit unions and joint accounts.

Re: Spouse as AU vs getting their own card

ptatohed — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 22:55:24 GMT

Most of our cards are mine but a few are mrs. ptatohed's (like, if I wanted a new card but had too many enquiries, lol). mrs. p is a stay at home Mom and always puts down household income. Never been a problem.

Re: Spouse as AU vs getting their own card

SeaProbe — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 23:37:06 GMT

@fury1995 wrote:
Is it within reason to state total household income for both? For example, my income with Amex is $400K+ but my spouses income with Amex says $60K. Could I report the same total household ($400K+) income for my spouse? Is that within allowable assumption? I'm not concerned about 4506t requests as we file jointly.

It may depend on the state. In California, yes, total household income may be used by both spouses. Oh, wait, it seems to be national:

An amendment to the CARD Act, issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), made it so borrowers age 21 and up can list any accessible income they have access to. According to the CFPB, the objective was to allow stay-at-home applicants to include their household income when applying for a credit card. Household income under this amendment can include: personal income, income from a spouse, gifts or allowances, trust fund or retirement distributions, scholarships and grants, and Social Security income.

Re: Spouse as AU vs getting their own card

CCrew — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 02:23:29 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
Joint income is fine - unless lender only accepts paystubs or uses ancillary reporting agency for income/employment.

Amex in particular uses TheWorkNumber. See a ping against it last two times I've requested a CLI.

Re: Spouse as AU vs getting their own card

K-in-Boston — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 02:28:12 GMT

@CCrew wrote:
@Remedios wrote:
Joint income is fine - unless lender only accepts paystubs or uses ancillary reporting agency for income/employment.

Amex in particular uses TheWorkNumber. See a ping against it last two times I've requested a CLI.

They do use The Work Number (which anecdotally may be a reason for some of the FR threads), but in most cases they will request a 4506-C if they really want to verify income and as long as a join return has been filed for the applicable years it's not an issue.

Re: Spouse as AU vs getting their own card

unsungivy — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 13:01:19 GMT

As others have said, "household income" is usually allowable. I sure as sh*t use it in most cases.

Secondly, definitely get her some good cards in her own name for future-proofing. Something may happen to you, in which case cards in which she is not the primary card holder would most likely be closed, leaving her in an even worse spot than dealing with life... life AND no access to credit for emergency purchases etc. I talked my parents into getting my mother an AmEx BCP (gas and groceries) and Chase Freedom Unlimited (drugstores, dining, and everything else) almost 3 years ago, as she was AU for almost all their cards previously. If my dad goes first, just about everything would stop working.

Re: Spouse as AU vs getting their own card

Adkins — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 04:06:52 GMT

For income purposes, any cards that we are AUs on for each other I list our combined incomes. We each have cards in our own names and we take turns getting a credit card at places we frequently shop at that are worthwhile to us.