Self funded retiree Credit card applications?

[PLANT]

Hi all,

Is there a link\thread for Self Funded retiree application info\process?
If you receiving the annual income(requirement) in retirement how do credit card application process view you?

 

[Buzzard]

I have not tried this yet as I will be unemployed in 47 days time (not that I'm counting :mrgreen I would also be interested to know.
Personally I don't see it being much of a problem if you could prove you have a reliable income stream but I could be wrong.

About 40 years ago a mate was approved for a home loan when he was on the dole. Mind you, the house was in Cobargo and worth very little.

 

[Deleted member]

it will come down to your assets and liabilities. my 80 year old mother was offered a pre-approved CC (in NZ) and when she queried it, the bank manager pointed out that she had no debt , a decent amount of cash and a valuable house, they would just sell her up if she defaulted..... Ya gotta love the banks

 

[cove]

Good luck with your retirement plan Buzzard.
If all else fails I get retired folks to get a Citbank debit card.
Many retirees still have property rentals or share dividends plus a retirement pension from their superannuation and this gets them to YES in most cases.

 

[drron]

But for Amex I needed a letter of confirmation from my accountant.
I guess not all retirees still have an accountant though.

 

[codash1099]

I had my credit limit restricted by Westpac some years ago because they were unable to handle the fact that my retirement income is both gross and nett at the same time. The tax free nature of retirement income either didn't register or their systems couldn't account for it.

I'm no longer with Westpac.

 

[cove]

Some credit card issuers do not like me getting paid zero from the office. I hated the 5% payroll tax.
I can still get CCs so it is just a step to overcome.

 

[clazman]

Family friends who are retired applied for a CC for just in case for when they are overseas.

One of the big 4, said no as they had no credit history despite banking with them for 30 years + and having assets and cash well north of a mil.

Crux of the issue was they paid cash for everything and never had applied for a loan

 

[Renato1]

They will want to see evidence of income - which is pretty easy to do e.g. rental received statements from real estate agents, money being paid from funds and allocated pensions etc.

The problem I struck was when some banks use gross income and other use net income. I have a mixture of money coming in, some being taxable and some being largely tax free (the Allocated Pensions).

As I posted elsewhere, I had a devil of a time explaining Allocated Pensions to them (since most are at overseas call centres).
In my last application with Citibank, I inflated the Allocation pension income, dividing it by one minus the marginal tax rate, and put it in as the gross amount. Then in my email to them with the attached evidence, that after tax I would receive the Allocated pension income listed in the evidence I provided. They then discussed this with me by phone, and accepted what i was telling them - that they had to compare apples with apples.
Regards,
Renato

 

[RB]

I too have had several situations where it appeared that the "credit card assessors" had very little knowledge/experience of the workings of allocated pensions and this is certainly not helped by the structure of their application forms

 

[cove]

You have to realize that the staff in the retail card assessing are not generally seasoned lenders like the folks in the commercial side of banking. I had to talk to a supervisor to get to yes on my most recent CC application.

 

[Renato1]

I too have had several situations where it appeared that the "credit card assessors" had very little knowledge/experience of the workings of allocated pensions and this is certainly not helped by the structure of their application forms

You have to realize that the staff in the retail card assessing are not generally seasoned lenders like the folks in the commercial side of banking. I had to talk to a supervisor to get to yes on my most recent CC application.

The lack of their being "seasoned" and being problematic didn't end at Allocated Pensions for me. I just remembered one silly thing that happened with Citibank.

I had sent them a copy of a letter from the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme which clearly stated what my superannuation payments would be for the next six months. The letter was three months old, so the chap at Citibank says to me that the letter is not acceptable evidence as they need something from within the last two months!

I got a bit exasperated at this, asking if they can't read that letter which says it applies to the next six months - that the Government doesn't send me a letter every month. But after he spoke to his supervisor, they stood their ground, the letter wasn't acceptable. In the end I had to send them a screen shot of my bank account showing the fortnightly superannuation deposits.
Cheers,
Renato

 

[cove]

We had early difficulties with Citibank Prestige which has turned out to be a pair of CCs that we use every week. Mrscove is probably still annoyed that I have a credit limit $40,000 more than her. She has been known to dine out on having a $63,000 higher credit limit on Bankwest World.
All of our CCs are working ok now so we are happy little Vegemites.

 

[Walter_Plinge]

I'm not retired (a lifestyle choice) but have a poverty-level taxable income with strong assets.

There's no consistency. Three years ago I couldn't get a Citibank credit card despite many explanations and calls to my tax accountant. After that I applied for the Qantas Credit Union card. That required a lot of explanation but eventually it was looked at by someone who understood family trusts. I had to accept a low credit limit for 12 months and after that they baulked at raising it.

Last month I applied for a Bankwest Zero Platinum card (Quodos now being a waste of time). Oddly, that breezed through on the strength of two income tax assessments showing low income. No explanations required. The only thing that might have assisted here is that I have a 30+ year history with the CBA, going back to SBV days, including a Diamond Awards card. The latter has had no use for four years but from 1 December it's my main points-earning card (sadly diminished as they are).

My financial position was pretty much identical for all three card applications.

 

[jxv]

My taxable income is largely from a Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme defined benefits pension, which is enough to meet the income requirements of most middle level credit cards. In addition I have non-taxable income from an allocated pension. I have not had any difficulties obtaining BankWest QF Platinum MC, ANZ QF Platinum AMEX/MC, NAB QF Premium AMEX/VISA, AMEX QF Premium in the last two years and recently Westpac Altitude QF Black AMEX/MC with some trouble. Westpac approved the application "subject to verification". I provided the documentation they asked for by email and when I did not hear anything for two weeks I enquired what happened. An hour later I received a rejection email! I could not get much information from the CC Application Assessment Team, so I took the matter to Customer Relations. Things were sorted out and my application was approved the next day. It seems they did not receive the verification info and then just rejected the application when I made the enquiry, without following up with a phone call. I had to submit the original and supplementary information again. Incompetence, but all is well in the end.

 

[CaptJCool]

My taxable income is largely from a Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme defined benefits pension, which is enough to meet the income requirements of most middle level credit cards. In addition I have non-taxable income from an allocated pension. I have not had any difficulties obtaining BankWest QF Platinum MC, ANZ QF Platinum AMEX/MC, NAB QF Premium AMEX/VISA, AMEX QF Premium in the last two years and recently Westpac Altitude QF Black AMEX/MC with some trouble.

Well, that's good to know...seeing I'm running through 54/11 in the next couple of years.
Mind you the mortgage muncher & CSA has been chewin thru the cash IN recent years so I'm quite prudent in my spending until they disappear. At this stage will take a pay-rise to not go to the office ahah even if the Govt further changes the rules that affect defined benefit members (x16 calculation for concessional cap)

Buzz. Is now down to 38 days to go.... party time

 

[jxv]

Well, that's good to know...seeing I'm running through 54/11 in the next couple of years.

Buzz. Is now down to 38 days to go.... party time

54/11, that was 14 years ago for me! CSS is very generous. I wasn't a public servant, but worked for what used to be a government instrumentality. In the early 80s they encouraged us to join another super fund, but I stayed. That worked out to be one of the best financial decisions of my life!

Enjoy your party and life thereafter.

 

[Pete98765432]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I wanted to add some information about ING. They will only provide credit cards to people in employment who can provide PAYG payslips. Doesn’t matter if you’re in receipt of a Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme pension more than double the minimum income requirement. They’ll approve someone on a much lower income who might lose their job next week, but not someone who has a guaranteed income for life.

 

[Buzzard]

Strange but not surprising.
Nothing surprises me about the way banks work.

 

[burmans]

Well it's their business, while it may be true that to restrict their lending exposure they tend to lend based on predefined criteria and don't tend to deviate from it can anyone seriously say the US experience of just lend to anyone (I.e. As in what caused the GFC) is a better way for banks to behave. Personally I think the motto that if you don't understand it don't lend for it is actually a pretty good way for banks to behave. Sure, I'd prefer they do understand but there are plenty of options out there who will understand this section of the market.