Income for Credit Card Apps

[EdMan63]

I have always understated my income. My wife and I file jointly but I always put down a number I felt would get me an adequate CL and I will always be able to back up no matter what. Better to be conservative in my opinion.  

[K-in-Boston]

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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 got a raise around that amount some years back, and Amex didn't bat an eye after I updated it.  Of course the amount of spend going to them went up by almost that amount, too, so I think it was fairly obvious to them that it really did go up.

[simplynoir]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

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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 got a raise around that amount some years back, and Amex didn't bat an eye after I updated it.  Of course the amount of spend going to them went up by almost that amount, too, so I think it was fairly obvious to them that it really did go up.

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From what I can gather from Chase and AMEX at least is they didn't blink an eye when I combined my income and lady's as well when we shared expenses, and this was a pretty big bump as well. I think they'll only question it if the spend itself is spooking them into wanting to double check the math there

[Anonymous]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

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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?

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I don't know about not updating it but mine dropped from $35K to $18K and Disco gave me a CLI and Cap didn't flinch. 

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Cap1 never flinches, unless you bounce a payment

[Anonymous]

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

Cap1 never flinches, unless you bounce a payment

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That's why I love them. 

[Remedios]

It also partially explains their CO rates 

[wasCB14]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:

Cap1 never flinches, unless you bounce a payment

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That's why I love them. 

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Though let's not forget their CLDs of some ~$20k CL cards with <$100 typical monthly spend.

I'm due for one of those. I've kept my card locked since downgrading.

[omgitsMatt]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

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@omgitsMatt wrote:

I had a CU ask for proof of income from pay stubs once, even though they said I could claim shared income.

So I provided my last two pay stubs _and_ her last two, then also provided a bank statement showing them both being deposited into the same account.

It was more than they asked for, but I wanted to show tangible proof it was shared income.

It helps too coming here in the forums and finding out what POI is acceptable to certain lenders. I never really have to guess on what I should or shouldn't claim

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I had this same experience with PenFed when getting an auto refi.  To this day I still think it was weird that they didn't ask for POI on an unsecured credit card, but did ask for a secured auto loan where the vehicle was worth like $12,000 more than the remaining loan amount.

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I found that pattern common and strange too.

I wonder if it's because theres more laws protecting consumers who take out car loans versus CCs and that it's required no matter what, whether they trust you or not?

Or it could be a different department doing the UW for it, the same department that does mortgages and personal loans, so their policy for auto loans reflects their policy for mortgages and personal loans, always?

[Remedios]

Nah

Repossessing a car or foreclosure are by far more complicated processes than closing the card.

While those may be secured debts, recovering them is not an easy process, and neither is what happens afterwards.