My wife applied for her first credit card a few weeks ago. She has always paid for things with a debit card or cash, and we thought it was about time she found a credit card that would allow her to earn cash back on purchases. She has a long credit history that goes back to her student loans in college (paid in full as of four years ago) and currently has a credit score of 743. The only debt she has is the mortgage on our house, which we share in name, but I pay from my income.
The application for this card asked for all sources of debt, so of course she listed her only source, the mortgage. However, it only asked for her personal income. The application did not ask about spouse income or even if she was married. We discussed this at the time she applied and she was concerned that if the lender saw the mortgage debt but not my income, it would look like her debt-to-income ratio was huge and she would be denied the credit card despite her good credit.
Today she got a notification from the lender that her credit card application has been denied due to 'a debt to income ratio that exceeds guidelines'.
My question is, is it normal for lenders to take shared debt, but only personal income into account when deciding to award credit? As I recall, when I applied for my credit card, I did have to estimate my wife's income, although it has been several years so I may be mis-remembering.
Submitted January 06, 2018 at 06:10PM by jcarrut2 http://ift.tt/2D1ZqLm
