There had been a recent spate of discussion in the Straits Times recently about elderly people who had their applications for credit cards rejected.
According to a key guideline from MAS, customers who are above 55 should have at least $15,000 in annual income.
Some elderly who own a substantial portfolio of shares providing annual dividends that exceed the income requirement also had their application rejected.
Some banks have mentioned that share dividends are not stable and thus would not be a good stable source of income.
Actually, it can be quite possible for a person working in a job to lose his job overnight so I do not know why there is a double standard here.
I think one real reason (for rejection) not mentioned by the banks is that many elderly people could have better spending habits compared to the young people today. They are less likely to rollover their debt and thus the profits from interest payments would be low.
If you are an elderly person and have problems getting a credit card, you can consider getting a debit card instead.
Standard Chartered Bank offers a XtraSaver account that comes with a free debit card.
If you maintain a minimum average balance of $6000 in the account, the debit card will also earn you a healthy 2% cash rebate on all your Mastercard spending and 0.5% on Nets spending. The 2% is much higher than any reward points system offered by most (if not all) of the other credit cards out there.