I was surprised when my credit card company asked me to update my profile. After 33 years and only one late payment in all of that time, a credit limit that I'm satisfied with, and a credit score of 815, I wondered why. They used as an answer that it was a federal requirement. They asked for my Gross Income, my total Available Assets, my Housing Type, and the monthly housing cost or rent, and also to verify my citizenship. Federal law? Perhaps if I were delinquent, or asking for increased limits, but why me, lord?
Hey Lon!.... I wish!... Spent an hour on the phone verifying this. I didn't give them my info. My credit card has more than 44 million accounts. Some of them are held by people over 75 or 80. Somehow, there's a 2012 law that requires companies offering credit to require applicants for credit (of any kind) show some ability to pay. Why it would be law is beyond me, except for the debacle of the bank bailouts back in 2008/2009. In any case I wouldn't give that info out to anyone except my wife. The poor agents that I was bounced around to, during that hour, had never had the question asked before. Pretty funny. I connected by phone, to the company number, and to the company website. Talked to six or seven different agents.
I have not gotten anything like that from a credit card company, but if my years of on-time payments doesn't demonstrate my "ability to pay" then they can take their card and shove it. They can get what information they need from my credit report.
A little more that I found that answers the questions.... https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-application-income-check-1282.php
Tell them you require their request in writing. They probably won't send you one, but if they do, take it to your bank and ask the bank to verify the source of the request. If it's real, then do what you want, if it's not, the bank will contact the FBI. Any bank loan officer will be HAPPY to check into it for you. Senior Citizen fraud is in the billions of dollars every year.
Tom, that article is nearly 10 years old. I'd be very suspicious, especially if this request came through email.
A few months ago, I read somewhere that my Credit Score was over 800. Since then, I've gotten notices congratulating me on my "improved" Credit Score, but when I proceed to read it, I'm presented with a form I must fill out with name and password to create an Account just to see my new numbers! I have only ONE Credit Card: a Bank of America VISA, so why all the fuss? Hal
What "fuss?" Proceed with caution; that may be another phishing scam to get your information. If you're not planning to buy anything on credit, why do you care about your credit score? We have a Chase VISA card and a Discover card; both provide credit score monthly. Since the credit reporting data breech a couple of years ago we have had our credit reporting frozen on all three major agencies.
I was just curious to see if it was even higher than before. (I'll have to look up "phishing"...) H.P.
Don't give ANY financial information out. This is the way scammers steal your identity, your credit rating in order to charge stuff in your name or just steal your money outright. This is hard to ever fix because most of these scams come from other countries or scammers who know how to stay hidden. Senior citizens are their number one target. If you want your current credit score, use this link, it's free: https://www.creditkarma.com/lp/free...-Exact&adcampaign=GGL_ACQ_NB_HighVolume-Exact