For CCs do you use just your income or household?

[K-in-Boston]

Unless specifically stated that it is only my own personal income (some CUs do this, for instance), I have always used household income.  My wife and I have been married for quite some time, share checking, joint mortgage and auto loans, and are AUs on many of each other's accounts.  Verifiable, puts us right at about $200k, and as stated earlier is perfectly acceptable since the CFPB got the rule passed.

[Anonymous]

Married couples, no problem. if you live with two roommates even though you're sharing a chunk of money to keep the household running that is not a good idea.

[Anonymous]

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@redpat wrote:

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@rmduhon wrote:
@Anonymous mine and hubby's SL's aren't that big. Lol.

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Maybe you can leave him for wanderingbuilder, lol!

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Haha! I'm going to be single for a long time because I'm paranoid about utilization etc now that I'm finally in a good spot.  Started off 2015 summer with mid to high 600s,  4 old derogs, a single $500 credit card and $500 CLOC.  now I'm mid 700s, no derogs,  and coming up on 200k revolving available credit. 

This, and the one time I let my first ex gf use my card she bought the groceries we needed, and a bunch of stuff for herself because "i shouldn't mind since I love her". 

[BronzeTrader]

I use either individual or household incomes. For the CCs I do not need CL, I use income even lower than my own. For the CC I wnat a higher CL, I use combined. 

A high CL sometimes is not desired. It does not carry anything to me and sometimes can be a liability. Not safe if I save a CC online with $50K CL, vs an AM BCE card with $5K CL. Much safer and I can sleep well. 

[rmduhon]

@wanderingbuilder with an ex like that I don't blame you.

[Anonymous]

Interesting replies everyone.  Thank you for them.  It seems about 50/50 from reading through this thread as far as people using just their own income verses their household income.  I could see household income being a bit more difficult to prove if documentation was requested, especially for non-married couples, but as long as both parties are willing to provide documentation I don't see it being the end of the world.

I've wrestled with the idea of adding my girlfriend's income to mine on my accounts, but have yet to actually do it.  She's lived with me for 5 years and we share everything basically so it could easily be justified and I'm sure she'd be willing to provide documentation if it ever came down to it.  Or, even if she didn't, my income as I stated earlier is 3X hers so I could just provide my documentation and go from there.  This may be something I consider at some point down the road, as I'm sure it would help me achieve more favorable CLIs on the 2 accounts that I'm still building... or at least help me get to those limit goals faster.

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Interesting replies everyone.  Thank you for them.  It seems about 50/50 from reading through this thread as far as people using just their own income verses their household income.  I could see household income being a bit more difficult to prove if documentation was requested, especially for non-married couples, but as long as both parties are willing to provide documentation I don't see it being the end of the world.

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While not the end of the world (a fairly high threshold for cc stuff...) the problem comes with the flexibility of the issuer demanding documentation.  In a FR, Amex is going to really want the tax return of the primary card holder, and may not be willing to access the one of the unmarried partner, so at least for them, I might not want to include it, especially if it was a significant proportion of the claimed income.

[wasCB14]

I value bonuses/perks/rewards over big CLs, so I tend to limit my application income to what I can easily prove. A family business has a separate tax return, and I don't include that income in apps.

[Anonymous]

I only put mine.

[yfan]

I use my own income only. I feel that combined income should only be used when funds from one's SO is both legally and actually available to pay the card. Only two situations confer this legal status: marriage and joint accounts. Since we are not yet married and we choose not to have joint accounts, I use individual income.