Credit card options for retirees

[tgh]

heading back to the era of no/low interest

not gonna happen….

 

[Flashback]

heading back to the era of no/low interest

not gonna happen….

I had a mortgage in the UK that was 1.46%, that was a nice deal.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

I've never heard of such a thing. How would a bank know your post retirement income and why would they check? I've had credit cards since 1998 and retired 10.5 years and had about 5 cards approved since. I'm on a government pension and topped up by a part age pension so not a big income.
I'm about to apply for my next card for maximum sign on bonus points so probable won't get it approved after putting a hex on myself by writing this!

The banks do know how much you earn, eg/ie, BankSA do list the category of income, "government payments" and the pension that is entered fortnightly into my mums account.
They also know who pays you.
Its more so if a bank officer is tasked, to do checking, or tracing, that they will call to confirm info.
I watch it like a warhawk.
There are a lot of things the bank knows, and you are lucky you havent had to do the FACTA report, "we notice that you have some information on your account from an overseas source"... just because I used an overseas passport (at that time) to open said account, then they want to know source of income, what is your job, who you are employed by, ... or was it KYC (know your customer), because the bank has to keep records re AML/CTF data keeping or reporting etc, ...
---===---
It comes under Source of Funds/Source of Wealth.

 

[Flyfrequently]

I wonder why people worry about the CC limit. As a retiree I have two cards with very low limits at $6,000 each. If I need to spend say $20k on something like a trip, then I transfer that amount into my CC, so I can still use the card, but using my own money, it has never been a problem. The limits are not an issue.

Amex discourage this @willclan
For them, it is a flag and they have advised me that the account can be closed.
Think we can thank all the money launderers out there for that !

 

[evaret]

We are both retired and my wife uses my credit card. Good credit rating, always paid the balance on time. A few friends (widows) had a lot of trouble getting their own credit card when the husband died. So my wife wanted to get her own now to avoid later problems. It was an excruciating sometimes surreal experience.

In our case I have a good defined benefit pension and low super balance. My wife has a very good super balance but she draws only the minimum amount. We have no mortgage and a late model car and caravan.

We tried 2 banks including Westpac that we had been with for over 20 years. While our financial arrangement was a concept staff understood the banks' 'system' or algorithm just could not grasp it. We had staff saying things like they understood and it will be approved or they had a widowed aunt that had the same problem. But No No No said the computer.

I think we tried 6 or 7 combinations including sitting in the office of a bank employee who helped us with the figures. The explanations for the rejection were bizarre. One bank said they couldn't tell her the reason for the rejection or the minimum fortnight income from super she needed because it was commercial-in-confidence. Another said the reason was that the system believed my wife earned too little to live on!

So where do you go from here?

Cheers

 

[burmans]

In my experience the white labelled Citibank cards are the easiest to get while retired. For credit decisions income is the only thing taken into account (not assets - it’s the law) so best I can suggest is increasing the drawdown for some months and then reapplying.

 

[mel-world]

Today I had a win for the 'old guy' when I was approved for a Virgin Money CC, despite my trepidation in applying after reading the posts above.

This will be the first FF CC I have had in many years and, certainty since retiring. It was easier than expected with approval after only one phone call. I was cautious about applying so only asked for the lesser value card and for a low limit, but enough for the time being.

Our only income is from a SMSF and a small indexed Australian Government pension. They did not even ask for details of our UK Pension payments. Did not even want an accountant's name - just as well as we don't have one anymore.

Now to spend enough to get the 70,000 VA points on offer and the yearly travel credit that almost matches the annual fee.

I'm happy about that, especially as we almost always pay our Latitude CC off on time each month.

 

[BJReplay]

Today I had a win for the 'old guy' when I was approved for a Virgin Money CC...

This will be the first FF CC I have had in many years and, certainty since retiring.

Nice one.

I am now on my fifth request for information trying to get an HSBC Premiere card:

I retired a few years ago, successfully got the HSBC / Star Alliance card a couple of years ago, but didn't keep it.

I have been asked to go back to my old employer for a special project, so I figured I'd have a tilt at getting another good value card now that I've got payslips, income, etc for about six months.

That's after getting no less than three cards as a retiree.

It seems HSBC have tightened requirements, as they're now asking why my income has gone up (sure, it has), and why my employer has changed.

They're quoting an employer that is listed on one of the credit reporting agencies as my employer - it is 10 years out of date and is a listed company that was taken over in an ASX takeover and no longer exists.

I didn't mention that employer - as the company doesn't exist - but they want to know why the payslips and employment contract I've provided as proof of income differ from that.

I've had to explain to them that credit reporting agencies are wrong, but I hadn't attempted to correct the record since it didn't bother me.

They're now asking for a letter from the non-existent company to state that I'm no longer working for them.

 

[Scru]

Hey gang,

Has anyone had any luck with CC approvals though retired and showing no income? I have seen some posts back in 2020-2022 but all very sporadic information

1. If so, could you please kindly share what banks they are
2. Any with higher approval rate based on your experience
3. The banks that I am considering would be: Amex Charge, QFF points, or HSBC Alliance
4. Anything that would give a higher chance of approval?
5. And the creditsavvy score is sitting at 900+

EDIT: 6. Have had a 10k NAB cc for the last 15 years, would that benefit any application?

TIA!

Have not heard of anyone having success. May have another shot at HSBC (if I can be bothered) shortly.
Have not heard of anyone having success. May have another shot at HSBC (if I can be bothered) shortly..

 

[Beano]

I read these reports with trepidation. I am essentially retired but still working a full job. I jave a nice credit card limit. Should I worry when I leave my job (not likely too soon or I could become a private consultant, if colleagues comments are anything to go by!). Will my current CC rollover?

 

[BJReplay]

Will my current CC rollover?

Sure will - you won't lose it.

It is just harder to apply once you don't have a salary / regular pay coming in.

For some banks, if you have a regular pension / super payment, that's OK, but for others, it isn't.

 

[Beano]

Sure will - you won't lose it.

It is just harder to apply once you don't have a salary / regular pay coming in.

For some banks, if you have a regular pension / super payment, that's OK, but for others, it isn't.

Thanks

 

[Beano]

I should say that with the bank where we have the CC we also have reasonable investments so I suppose that helps.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

I read these reports with trepidation. I am essentially retired but still working a full job. I jave a nice credit card limit. Should I worry when I leave my job (not likely too soon or I could become a private consultant, if colleagues comments are anything to go by!). Will my current CC rollover?

My mum retited in 2013 and her bank is happy to roll over the card.
Keep sending her replacements when each card is about to expire.

 

[SYD]

I should say that with the bank where we have the CC we also have reasonable investments so I suppose that helps.

You still might want to think about increasing your credit limit anyway. 20k today could be 10k in 10yrs and 1k in 30yrs.

If you don’t already have a decent Int TX fee free CC, now’s a good time to get one. DCs are fine for day to day spend but won’t work for a Rental Car holding deposit or some hotels.

 

[Beano]

You still might want to think about increasing your credit limit anyway. 20k today could be 10k in 10yrs and 1k in 30yrs.

If you don’t already have a decent Int TX fee free CC, now’s a good time to get one. DCs are fine for day to day spend but won’t work for a Rental Car holding deposit or some hotels.

That's looks like good advice. I will look into it.

 

[cove]

We frequently run into women who have only a co-card with their male partner. Mrscove pushes these ladies to get their own card prior to retirement.

 

[Major]

We frequently run into women who have only a co-card with their male partner. Mrscove pushes these ladies to get their own card prior to retirement.

You should bring that up at the Masterclass

 

[BJReplay]

Mrscove pushes these ladies to get their own card prior to retirement.

That is great advice.

I know of a couple of widows who were left in temporary financial stress because they were secondary card holders, and made the (honest, unknowing) mistake of saying to the bank / credit card provider "my husband has just died", and the banks, like the coughholes upstanding caring corporate citizens they are froze joint accounts and credit cards where the cardholder was the decedent.

The banks were in the wrong when then froze a joint account but imagine being a grieving widow and having to sort that out when you are at the checkout trying to buy groceries and all of your cards decline.

Mrs BJReplay had already retired when we heard this story the second time around. Neither of us are superannuants, yet, but both have an income. We ensured that the income was clearly visible as an income flowing to her account (rather than a joint account) for long enough for her to get a fee free BankWest mastercard. That's her "Break Glass in case of emergency" card for when I get hit by the proverbial bus.

All our accounts are joint accounts, but she also has her own accounts in her name, and my logins are in a password manager where she can get emergency access after seven days. She knows now to not tell the banks until she has:

a) transferred money from the joint accounts to her accounts
b) made sure her credit card is still working
c) made sure she has access under my login
d) is ready to tell the banks "No, check again, they're joint accounts, and my brother-in-law is a lawyer who will be more than willing to take you to court if you even think about attempting to block my access to my funds, if AFCA don't get you first; I've had two successful wins via AFCA in the past".