Do credit cards lower your limits @ RE?

[badatmath]

Card keeps nagging me to update my income and they will raise my limit. Just made me wonder if they find out I retire will they lower it?

 

[SecondCor521]

They probably won't find out unless you update your income with them or apply for a new card and list your updated income.

If they do find out about your lower income, I think they will tend to give you a lower limit. Generally any given CC company will only give you total limits across all cards with them at perhaps 1X your annual income.

FWIW, I don't really have much need for credit as an early retiree, except for CC rewards and bonuses that I churn. I probably have 20x to 50x my actual need.

 

[jazz4cash]

No. I can't believe they'd do that as long as your payments are timely and your FICO scam, er... score doesn't drop too much. Chase keeps bugging me but I ignore it and don't worry about it. I think they just want to pitch me more crap to waste my money.

 

[audreyh1]

Card keeps nagging me to update my income and they will raise my limit. Just made me wonder if they find out I retire will they lower it?

How can they find out?

When you apply for a new card you will self-report. But I don't think that's part of your credit history on file. I never see it in my report.

I have self-reported that I am retired, that my income is all from investments (as a few credit card companies ask), and my income from prior year tax statements. My credit score is good, and I have always been approved, but as it happens my income didn't drop.

 

[Dtail]

I applied for new credit cards in retirement with my current BOA bank. I was asked how much income and told them as generated by income sources and investments. I didn't have to prove any of it and received the same limits as pre retirement even though my income was less.
Ass an aside, since we are renters, our credit scores still do matter.

 

[Aerides]

Agree with the above, don't tell them, and oh those "they keep asking me so they can...." ignore em.

I wouldn't be 100% sure that info you submitted for one credit request (income) isn't available in some way to another creditor... I know it's not on the report you see when you pull your own, but I also wouldn't be 100% certain that the contents are exactly the same shared with the consumer vs. the creditor.

But in any case, most banks want to lend you as much as possible under their risk formulas. Not one dollar less. Your spending and payment history is a far better predictor, and lapses there (particularly a late payment) are far more likely to trigger a decrease.

 

[Another Reader]

Several credit card issuing banks have started asking for my taxable income. As someone that writes off a boatload of depreciation, the taxable income is irrelevant. So I don't answer the question. If the feds change the unsecured lending standards, a lot of real estate investors and other business people with large write-offs are going to find themselves in a credit pinch.

 

[DEC-1982]

Card keeps nagging me to update my income and they will raise my limit.

I just ignore these credit card "update income" messages.

 

[Corporateburnout]

When I was once asked by Amex I reported my investment income from all sources, IRAs, Roths and taxable and I was flooded by credit card offers from different banks.....Never again.

As others have said, if you pay your bills on time they will not reduce your limits.

 

[Mykle57]

Mine did. Don't know how they knew. I certainly didn't tell them.

In the notice, they explained it was because I hadn't charged to a high level. (I'm a member of the pay it off completely every month anyway).

 

[CaptTom]

I was wondering about all the prompts to "update" my income information, too.

In my experience, they give me higher limits than I'll ever want to use anyway. And if one of them chooses to give me less than I need, there will quickly be one less card I have to carry around. So I don't worry about it.

But I'm also curious to see how long I can keep clicking "not now" before one of them escalates the question. And why they've all suddenly started doing this. Maybe the credit reporting agencies have flagged my reduced income in retirement?

 

[EastWest Gal]

I’ve been ignoring them for years. I pay off everything every month so it is irrelevant. All they get from my account is the fee charged to the seller. I have credit limits on 2cards that are more than I have spent on any one thing except property upgrades, so why bother?

 

[scrabbler1]

In 2015, I asked my CC holder to increase my limit. I don't recall being asked my income, all they wanted to see was my credit report. Once I unlocked it ("thawed"), they viewed it and granted me the increase immediately. I had asked for the increase in anticipation of a large charge I might get hit with in the next few months. Thankfully, by the time that bill came in, I had available cash to pay it.

 

[badatmath]

Well I think it is likely I will apply for another card sometime after I retire and they would ask then and I assumed they shared the information.


My coworker revealed to me he has a 1500 card limit and I was shocked. (He has bad credit). So then I thought "well if I had less income what would they do?!" and "maybe I should update it now".

 

[Chuckanut]

I have not experienced a change in my credit card limits because of retiring. The only reduction in a limit was made by Capital One earlier this year. The reason given was that my use of the card is so trivial (my word, not theirs), that they don't see the need for such a high limit. Interestingly, a month afterward they introduced their ENO system for on-line purchases and I am now using the card much more than I was.

 

[always_learning]

I was wondering about all the prompts to "update" my income information, too.
**SNIP**
Maybe the credit reporting agencies have flagged my reduced income in retirement?

We aren't retired yet (still have full-time income) and have also been suddenly flooded with requests to update our income. Like once a month. My understanding is cc companies can lower limits for any reason at all, so why would they ask if not to pitch new products/award higher limits? I would guess these requests have more to do with internal company policies than suddenly figuring out who has retired/lost their job/etc, with the goal of reducing credit limits.

As an aside, is Chase the only company suddenly asking about updating incomes? That's the only company bugging us.

 

[always_learning]

I have not experienced a change in my credit card limits because of retiring. The only reduction in a limit was made by Capital One earlier this year. The reason given was that my use of the card is so trivial (my word, not theirs), that they don't see the need for such a high limit. Interestingly, a month afterward they introduced their ENO system for on-line purchases and I am now using the card much more than I was.

Capital One outright cancelled my card many years ago out of the blue because I wasn't using it "enough". Be glad they just lowered your limit. While I don't like to say "never", I will say that I will not ever willingly apply for credit with them/use their services again if I have other options.

 

[FIREd_2015]

I applied for a increase on my Fidelity 2% rebate card ($9.5k limit) a couple of months ago and was denied. The reason I got was something like they didn't have my last year's tax return or something. It was an interesting response since I also had Fidelity's 1% rebate card with $20k limit at the time. So my response to them denying my request was to cancel the 1% rebate card which I wasn't using anyway.

 

[calmloki]

I applied for a increase on my Fidelity 2% rebate card ($9.5k limit) a couple of months ago and was denied. The reason I got was something like they didn't have my last year's tax return or something. It was an interesting response since I also had Fidelity's 1% rebate card with $20k limit at the time. So my response to them denying my request was to cancel the 1% rebate card which I wasn't using anyway.

You might have tried transferring some of the credit from the
$20k card to the $9.5k card.

I wanted to do that but have $40k on a joint Fidelity card and wasn't allowed to shift credit to a $10k individual card. Have a bunch of auto-payments already set up on the $10k card and didn't want to go through changing them all to the joint card. We are using another poster's suggestion to have a "carry" card and a "drawer" card that has all the auto-pays. That way if the carry card is compromised in our use out at random stores we don't have the pain of re-doing all the auto-pays.

 

[Amethyst]

Just one piece of anecdata;

We are both retired. I have been retired for 4.5 years now; Mr. A. for several times that long.

The only time we have been asked about our income is when we apply for a card.

The credit limits get raised periodically, whether we ask for it or not.

 

[Amethyst]

That sounds weird. I ask for an increased credit limit on my Citi 2X Mastercard every 6 months. So far, it has been granted each time. They turn me down if it's a day shy of 6 months, though!

I applied for a increase on my Fidelity 2% rebate card ($9.5k limit) a couple of months ago and was denied. The reason I got was something like they didn't have my last year's tax return or something. It was an interesting response since I also had Fidelity's 1% rebate card with $20k limit at the time. So my response to them denying my request was to cancel the 1% rebate card which I wasn't using anyway.

 

[Walt34]

The last couple of times either one of us applied for a credit card none of them asked for any income information at all. Evidently just the credit score was enough.

Although recently Capital One lowered my credit card limit from Insanely High to merely Stupidly High because I wasn't charging "enough". Well, yeah. The last thing I want is a mid-five-figure cc bill! And it probably didn't help that like most here we pay them all off in full every month.

 

[JustCurious]

But I'm also curious to see how long I can keep clicking "not now" before one of them escalates the question. And why they've all suddenly started doing this. Maybe the credit reporting agencies have flagged my reduced income in retirement?

I don't think so because I'm still working and my income has not reduced and I get those pop ups too. (I don't respond to the pop ups)

 

[JustCurious]

As an aside, is Chase the only company suddenly asking about updating incomes? That's the only company bugging us.

Nope, I have an Amex Blue card and I get those pop ups asking me to update my income.

 

[FIREd_2015]

You might have tried transferring some of the credit from the
$20k card to the $9.5k card...

Didn't think about trying that. I guess it's too late now since I've already cancelled the card.