Citi recently did the same to me, I have a highish income but nothing special, First they froze my application when I called in they said it was for income verification and I could use a number of documents to verify, when the letter came it was you must show us your full tax returns and by submitting the form I agreed to let them run my credit a second time.
I also felt it was an invasion of my privacy like they cared more about the financial disclosure than verifying my income, and the second hard pull was frankly over the top so I told them to stuff it. Will eat the 2% cb on dinning and get a savor or altitude go instead.
I highly suspect the main purpose from demanding tax returns instead of w-2 or pay stubs is the insights on investment accounts. So they can market follow on products.
I even asked them what they would have done had I said I was 19 and didn't file taxes the previous year? The CSR had no answer, I then pointed out the ivers request is for loans not credit, and specifically mentions when it is to be used on irs.gov. She had to put me on hold for that one.
@Bill77 wrote:I've never been asked but I would never submit POI, bank records, or tax documents for any credit card. I take issue with a company charging ~17% interest and then trying to underwrite it like a mini-mortgage. Not happening.
I think POI is fair; after all, they need to make sure you really do make the money you say you do when filling out the income box.
