Originally Posted by
pinguy
My retired wife received her first ever cc from Chase last week. Yesterday, Citi denied her because of low income. She only has SS income. Kind of surprised because I am a high earner with little debt and a high net worth. The recon man (on chat) said household earnings did not count - just her earnings.
He did say the app is kept on file and if things change to call back within 90 days. I assume that to mean they will not do another HP if we call back. I'm going to put her on my payroll (I own a corporation) and then call back in about a month.
We live in Calif and we're a community property state. I forgot to mention that point to recon yesterday. I'm thinking of calling back today and pressing the community property issue with another rep.
Any other ideas?
Techinically, until Nov 4th, 2013 Citi can choose to only count one spouses income due to a poorly worded provision in the Truth in lending act. As of May 3rd, 2013 the rule is on the books that it is back to the more sensible standard of "assets with a reasonable expectation of access", e.g. joint accounts. So Citi can be cranky and demand independent ability to pay if they want to but it is entirely up to them. You can check out the revised rule here and good luck!
https://www.federalregister.gov/arti...g-regulation-z