Hi, Just seeking advice. If you are applying for a credit card and you have a husband/wife, should you show your income as only yours, or both husband and wife added together? Obviously that will show a much higher income increasing chances of approval, rather than showing only your own. (And then when you get to the question of how many are dependent on the income you answer “2”?) Also, once the husband or wife has applied for a card, then can the other partner also apply for their own card, again showing income as both incomes added together?
Hi @graham
The short answer is that you should answer the question honestly and truthfully. If you are being asked for your income, you need to just enter your income.
However, your question is a little more complex than that. So let’s get into it in a bit more detail:
INCOME: Answer the question. The CC provider is interested in your income and most (not all) will not take into account your spouse’s income and it would be considered fraudulent if you added someone else’s income to your own for the sake of applying for a credit card. Some CC providers (from memory, AmEx is one) may ask you to list your spouse’s income separately and take that income into account. Most do not.
EXPENSES: This is where it all comes out in the wash. You only need to list your share of expenses. So if you and your spouse both have an income, you are perfectly justified in listing the amount of 50% of your expenses. Conceivably, if your spouse’s income is higher than yours, you could give a figure even lower than that (eg. if your income is $100k and your spouse’s is $200k, you could give a figure that’s one-third of your combined expenses in that section).
DEPENDENTS: This means the number of people who have zero income and who depend on your income to live. This would include children. If your spouse has an income – any income – do not list them as a dependent.
Finally, if the other partner wants to apply for their own card, they need to list their income only – but again it will come out in the wash with their share of expenses.
In summary: Answer the questions truthfully. Give only your income when asked to do so. But also only give your share of the expenses.
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Awesome answer sixty eight! Many thanks for going into detail.