Income Question for Applying

[Anonymous]

So I asked on here the other day and was confirmed that I can include both mine and my husband's income on an application. Well, I recently applied (and was approved) for a new Sallie Mae card. I accidentally understated our combined income but they still approved me for over $12k limit (doubling the total amount I had previously available on my existing cards excluding the AU cards that I am on with my husband). I have no use for this high CL other than to buffer my utilization, which is typically at 1% with my total credit limit available before I even got this card. In the past I have never even requested a CLI even though my previous high card availability was only $2,500 (Chase recently offered a SP to double my CL on my Freedom card) and the same with Best Buy so I did take advantage of those.

My question is: for apps going forward, if I only include my income, will that be any issue since I just applied for a card using our household income? Does that flag anywhere or will it cause a problem with my Sallie Mae? We file our taxes jointly and such, but if I get a store card like Macy's or something, I don't need a crazy limit. Am I weird for not wanting a super high CLI? We don't carry balances on our cards and neither of us have debt from college, we simply use cards for the rewards (we don't chase them, just take advantage when they are available) and plan to remain debt free (aside from our mortgage) for as long as possible.

[NRB525]

I can't imagine it would cause any issues with other banks, because they have no idea what your app for Sallie Mae looked like. If apping for Barclays, other cards or subsequent CLI requests, best to keep that story square.

It's probably best to pick a profile, yours alone if you like, and stick with it, if you will be expanding the number of cards. That way, it's easier to keep your story straight with each lender

And you don't say, but your FICO scores are probably fairly high if you got a Sallie Mae with $12k right off the bat. You may be disappointed to learn that when you app for other cards, you will get simlarly high credit lines. It's a cross you may just have to bear

[Skye12329]

It shouldnt matter too much, however credit profile seems to be the larger favor when it comes to determining lines. Some creditors if you get too large of a line and i know in your post you mentioned you dont want ridiculous lines. You can call the lender and request a credit line decrease.

[NRB525]

^^ Blasphemy!

[SecretAzure]

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@Skye12329 wrote:
It shouldnt matter too much, however credit profile seems to be the larger favor when it comes to determining lines. Some creditors if you get too large of a line and i know in your post you mentioned you dont want ridiculous lines. You can call the lender and request a credit line decrease.

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Satan? Is that you? (JK)

You can't just go around saying such things on these forums! My total CL is about 10K over my annual income and I have no desire to ask for a decrease anywhere. Craziness!

It shows you can be trusted with more and I wouldn't recommend it. Although I am encountering an issue where to have even 1% UTIL, it requires me to put quite a bit on my cards and my expenses are pretty low.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all of the suggestions!! I am not worried about messing up or anything, I never had in the 8+ years I've been building my credit. Even when I was just starting and I didn't understand credit, I fortunately never went crazy. I've never had a late or missed payment, I payed off my car early, until recently I had not applied for a new credit card since 2009 (I think), I always PIF, etc.... My score according to Barclays is 775 after my application, Mint.com put me at 753 at the last update (next update is in a week). My Chase Slate card will start giving me my other score in 2 weeks so I'm interested to see what that is. My husband has always been the same way. I plan on applying for an AMEX card in the next 6 months and possibly Discover IT. Other than that the only other card that is a potential for me is Macy's but I don't shop there THAT often, I would just love the extra discounts they offer. Thanks again for all the input!!

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure I'll be able to break 800 without an installment loan (at least that is what my profile tells me I'm lacking). Our mortgage is in my husband's name (he purchased the house before we were married) and we have a great rate so there's no need to refinance right now. I might be getting a student loan in the next year so that could impact it, but as for right now this is where I am.