Should My Credit Card Issuer Earnings Be Updated?
If you have a credit card, you’ve likely received multiple emails and letters – or received a request when logging into your online account – asking you to update your salary information on an annual basis. This may sound intrusive, but issuers are asking because the Credit Card Act of 2009 requires them to verify the creditworthiness of the cardholder.
To do this, card issuers need to track your income against any debt you have.
You don’t need to respond to company inquiries. However, this can lead to an increase in credit. Under the Credit Cards Act, “[a] a card issuer cannot … increase any credit limit applicable to such an account unless the card issuer considers the consumer’s ability to make the necessary payments in accordance with the terms of that account.”
If information is required, say, to sign in to your account, and you feel uncomfortable sharing the information, it’s best to contact customer service and ask for a workaround rather than lying, as detailed in this Consumer Reports article . … “Entering a random string of numbers in this field may constitute fraud because you are effectively giving the bank inaccurate information about your income.”
CR writes that, for example, typing “123” in the Capital One prompt tells the system that the field has not been updated, not that your income is $ 123.
Here’s another reason for not, um, inflating your income, according to CreditCards.com :
But if your account is ever foreseen or if you file for bankruptcy, “the issuers have a record with the cardholder’s income statement.”
- In such situations, any claims you make about overpricing will lower your chances of repaying the debt or part of it.
- Likewise, an inflated income claim will work against you if you ever try to negotiate a debt settlement or workout.
If you are a non-working spouse, you can include your family’s total income without penalty.
Another note: while not updating may mean that you are not being promoted to new products (which is not necessarily a bad thing), providing your issuer with updated salary information may result in them sharing it with third parties, depending on your cardholder agreement. … If that turns you off, you don’t need to update the information.