How honest do I have to be when applying for credit card?!

northcoastmusic

A friend of mine told me that to get credit cards he just makes up how much his income is and his employment status because he is self employed and says that if he puts that and his real income on the application would never be successful. I am also self employed, am wanting a card for a specific purchase and have a solid plan to repay. Is making it up a really bad idea, ie. would someone be found out doing this occasionally?

Jigga

There are a lot of cross checks out there so it’s certainly not a course of action that I would advise.

From my experience, I have successfully applied for over 20 cards during my tarting career and in all but one instance they ‘appear’ to have taken my word for my income level. Once with Virgin I had to fax them three recent pay slips for proof.

However, as mentioned, I should imagine that there are a number of number of cross checks out there, so if something looks out of line they will kick ya to the kerb

Tixy

Yes its a really bad idea.

Your name could end up on the national hunter database making it very difficult to get new credit and should your lies come to light at a later date (if you were struggling to repay debt etc) then you could be charged with fraud. Not worth it.

If you cannot get credit based on honest answers then manage without it.

curtmchennig

I agree with Tixy. If it catches upwith your friend he could ( and probably will) get into a lot of trouble. Fraud is not something that you want linked to you as obviously it's against the law.
Better to be safe than sorry, and keep a clean slate.

housebuyer_abc

northcoastmusic wrote: »

A friend of mine told me that to get credit cards he just makes up how much his income is and his employment status because he is self employed and says that if he puts that and his real income on the application would never be successful. I am also self employed, am wanting a card for a specific purchase and have a solid plan to repay. Is making it up a really bad idea, ie. would someone be found out doing this occasionally?

Oh yes you'll be caught, and more to the point if you ever get into difficulties they will research the application in more detail - determine you lied and push for immediate repayment.

northcoastmusic

Yeah thought it was a dodgy idea! I'll go back to putting pound coins in my piggy bank hehehe! Thanks for all your replies guys x

williham

If you don't lie about being self-employed, just about your income then you'll probably be fine as long as you keep up the lie in future. The hunter database (as i understand it) highlights when people chop and change the figures that they use.

I have bent the truth in the past, but I only use my cards to make me money, not to get in to debt.

Hammyman

Obtaining goods and services by deception?

chattychappy

A friend of mine has made a career out of this. It is indeed a criminal offence to lie in order to obtain credit, even if it's your intention to pay back on time and otherwise stick to the terms.

There was a thread about National Hunter a while back. Led me to think that sometimes you have to "lie" because if you told the truth they might think you're lying! (Eg if your income varies wildly and you make multiple applications quoting different income levels.) I personally keep a note of what I have put on applications so I don't fall foul of this and can always justify what I have written if there was a problem.

Anyway, seems to me once you're through the credit check hurdles, income level is taken pretty much on trust and without corroboration except perhaps with what you've said before. If you make up a different story each time you'll be spotted and then it will be no new credit at all!

I doubt whether many people are prosecuted for exaggerating their income on an application. (I really don't know!)

CannyJock

northcoastmusic wrote: »

Is making it up a really bad idea, ie. would someone be found out doing this occasionally?

I've been asked to provide proof of income before. It does happen.

Making it up is a really bad idea - there's a reason we don't all put 200K as our applications

BugsyBrowne

Just make sure when you apply be consistent....