Hi all,
I have a question that is actually on behalf of my wife:
She has a credit score of about 780 (TU and EFX). She only has 2 credit cards where she is the primary owner, but she has a decent AAoA (12 years). One card is a Chase Slate with a CL of $22K that she barely uses (just enough to keep them from closing it) and a Cap1 Platinum with a CL of $8K that she uses regularly but always pays off in full each month.
The reason the Cap1 gets all the use is becuse it does have a rewards program, whereas the Chase doesn't, so she gets nothing in return for using that Chase card. However, she keeps the Chase open because it's a fairly old account (more than 10 years) and a high CL, so good in case of serious emergency.
Although she never uses more than about $1K out of the $8K limit on her Cap1, it annoys her that she's also had that card about 10 years and has never been given a CLI, given her regular usage and regular payment. Every now and then Cap1 will ping her to ask for updated income info, saying they need that to determine if she's eleigible for a CLI, but here's the rub:
Since getting the card, her income has actually gone down because she has switched to only working part-time. She is also self-employed. So she has been heistant to give Cap1 any new info, as she doesn't want to put the card in jeopardy in any way.
Is this being overly cautious? Can you get a CLI *without* reporting updated income info, or do they go hand in hand? Should she just be OK with having a card for over a decade without ever getting a CLI, since she doesn't really need the headway anyway? Her thinking is just that if there were ever a need to make a large purchase, she'd rather do so with a card that provides something in return than on the Chase, which as I said has no rewards program attached.
Alternatively, should she just try adding a new card to her mix, or is that even more risky based on her low income?
Note that she is also an AU on an AmEx of mine, but that is a "charge" card, not a pay-over-time credit card. And we've only had that open for ~2 years.
Thoughts appreciated!
-ShamWow1
