Surprised by AMEX CLI...

[Anonymous]

okay so I got an AMEX Blue Cash card last month with a $2,000. I was surprised I even got a 2k limit. Anyway, today was the 30th day after activation (longest 30 days of my life), so I logged on to ask for a credit line increase. I put in $7,000 for the hell of it, and I GOT IT. However, they asked for household income so I put $30,000. But my income is only like $15,000 (i'm a 19 year old full time student, work part time). I doubled it because I still live with my parents. Hey, it asked for "household income" right?!! I'm really surprised I got the CLI, but is there anyway they can take back the CLI if they, for instance, check my income?? LOL!!

[Anonymous]

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kontayjus wrote:
okay so I got an AMEX Blue Cash card last month with a $2,000. I was surprised I even got a 2k limit. Anyway, today was the 30th day after activation (longest 30 days of my life), so I logged on to ask for a credit line increase. I put in $7,000 for the hell of it, and I GOT IT. However, they asked for household income so I put $30,000. But my income is only like $15,000 (i'm a 19 year old full time student, work part time). I doubled it because I still live with my parents. Hey, it asked for "household income" right?!! I'm really surprised I got the CLI, but is there anyway they can take back the CLI if they, for instance, check my income?? LOL!!

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Well if they check your income it will be with a tax form where they pull your retrns directly from the IRS.  One of three things will happen, they will either ok you or shut you down or drastically decrease your credit limit.

Amex LUV button is nothing to play around with.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm.. okay, I'm a little scared now. I plan on keeping my utilization very low on this card anyway. I hope they don't check But if they ask anything, "household income" would include my parents' right? I plan on living here for awhile lol..

[SpecFile]

True that ^^^^^^^^^^^. Don't take advantage of luv because you will get burned in the end.

[Anonymous]

Whether or not they will consider your parents household income s a toss up. They are not really vested in paying your debt.  I think that question was meant more for husbands and wives.  Hwever, you might be able to claim ignoranc and save your card if it came down to it.

Message Edited by Brammy on 12-19-2007 06:59 PM

[fused]

Does Amex know you are a student living with your parents?

[Anonymous]

Congrats, but stay under the radar!!!!!!!!! NO baddies on any cards.

[Anonymous]

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kontayjus wrote:
Hmmm.. okay, I'm a little scared now. I plan on keeping my utilization very low on this card anyway. I hope they don't check But if they ask anything, "household income" would include my parents' right? I plan on living here for awhile lol..

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Ok, not trying to lecture you, but HH income is for married people- you did "fudge" quite a bit of income bump-  and this could come back to bite you.

What I would do is this, never charge more than 10 perc. on this card, and keep YOUR TOTAL CREDIT PICTURE spotless. Do not ask for anymore CLI's until you are able to report ONLY  your income.

Students usually fall into different categories, and if they had wanted  your parents added salary they would have asked for them to be joint on the account- which, by the way- Amex does not do joint.

Sooooooooooo, long story short, keep your nose very, very clean on this one because they will soft you sometimes as much as once a quarter, and you don't want to lose this card.

Lesson to be learned, NEVER fudge your income on CC apps/CLI's etc- it can really, really bite you in the butt.

[Anonymous]

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kontayjus wrote:
 but is there anyway they can take back the CLI if they, for instance, check my income?? LOL!!

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And yes, they can check your income- it is called Financial Review, and yes you would have to send actual IRS forms, and yes, they can take away your card.

Really, really, really keep your nose clean on this one. Even opening up more cards could trigger FR for Amex.

For suggested reading I would like to "assign" you to search the threads and read everything about Amex cards in this forum- trust me, we are not trying to scare you, just Amex is nothing to play around w/.

Acutally- credit in general is nothing to play around w/. If your income is only 15000 you have just asked for a CL that is a 50 perc. ratio of unsecured debt that doesn't even include a breakdown of your normal bills.

Do NOT BE EVEN TEMPTED to charge over 700 on this card. You may get to keep it if you tread very, very lightly.

I admire you for trying to set up an early CC portfolio, but bottom line is to not over reach in what you can't even afford. Know what I mean?

[Anonymous]

So if you can get 7 on 30, hopefully I can get 15 on 60 w/o an issue (60 legit)

But anyway, you shouldn't lie to them about your income. When it comes FR time, they don't care if you claim you're ignorant to the self/parents household income. They'll just shut you down (in fact, if you play dumb, it'll make you look stupid.. which isn't good when it comes to someone deciding who to give credit to.. would you want to loan money to someone who legitimately thinks you care about how much their parents make and not how much they make?).

Well, what's done is done, don't ask for any more CLIs until you have 30K / yr legit income.

By the way, this isn't like some loophole that you can use to do a (legal) tax dodge.. A company can take your card away for any reason, so don't give them one.

Message Edited by fail2deliver on 12-19-2007 06:05 PM