Income for Credit Card Apps

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Curious what people do. Do you only use your income, or do you add your spouse? Have you changed your income to include your spouse to have a better chance of approval with an existing lender? Did they ask for documents after the jump in income reported?

Personally, since me and my wife keep our finances separate, I only use my income unless an app specifically asks for household income.

[Anonymous]

used to put combined household income when i was married.

we had both combined and separate checking and savings accounts.

[Jnbmom]

I normally use household unless it asks for individual.

i would guess if your household is significantly higher but when you applied you used your individual then if you updated to household , it might raise a few eyebrows?

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

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@Jnbmom wrote:

I normally use household unless it asks for individual.

i would guess if your household is significantly higher but when you applied you used your individual then if you updated to household , it might raise a few eyebrows?

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What with discover asking for tax docs, I would think that people would be less likely to use household income. I would assume that if I added 50k to my income, amex might raise an eyebrow.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

I mean, how would that work? If you all of a sudden added your spouse's income and a lender requested tax docs. Me and my wife file separately. I can provide mine, what if she doesn't want to provide hers? Do they shut down all of my accounts?

[Jnbmom]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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@Jnbmom wrote:

I normally use household unless it asks for individual.

i would guess if your household is significantly higher but when you applied you used your individual then if you updated to household , it might raise a few eyebrows?

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What with discover asking for tax docs, I would think that people would be less likely to use household income. I would assume that if I added 50k to my income, amex might raise an eyebrow.

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Well you can provide POI with your joint tax returns do I don't see why people would shy away from using it .

[FieryDance]

We file taxes jointly so I always put our combined income.  I use a conservative number (lower than actual) and I have never updated when incomes increase.  But if at some point in the future our income decreases I will update.  

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

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@FieryDance wrote:

We file taxes jointly so I always put our combined income.  I use a conservative number (lower than actual) and I have never updated when incomes increase.  But if at some point in the future our income decreases I will update.  

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Oooh, that brings up another good question. Has anybody's income gone down, and they got a FR or AA for not updating it?

[CaptJOB]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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@Jnbmom wrote:

I normally use household unless it asks for individual.

i would guess if your household is significantly higher but when you applied you used your individual then if you updated to household , it might raise a few eyebrows?

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What with discover asking for tax docs, I would think that people would be less likely to use household income. I would assume that if I added 50k to my income, amex might raise an eyebrow.

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I added DWs income out of the blue and they didn't care. Probably only an issue if you're trying to leverage it for a much larger credit limit without showing an equal increase in spending in a short period of time.

[wasCB14]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

Curious what people do. Do you only use your income, or do you add your spouse? Have you changed your income to include your spouse to have a better chance of approval with an existing lender? Did they ask for documents after the jump in income reported?

Personally, since me and my wife keep our finances separate, I only use my income unless an app specifically asks for household income.

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Single, never married. I report earned income and recurring dividend/interest income from investments over which I have direct control.

No capital gains. They vary too much from year to year. Easier to live with moderate but adequate CLs than endure a rollercoaster of income updates and CL changes. I did once include this income and it immediately attracted a POI request from Amex, but I was also trying to take a $10k CL up to $30k. However, I had not yet filed the relevant return so I ignored the transcript request and let the CLI request die off.

No income from inherited investments until everything is finally settled and I have direct control.