Thank you. This is my understanding as well. What would you self report on the credit card application?

To expand on your comment that they electronically verified income, it sounds like they will pull your credit report and look at how much you spend per month on your credit cards and other loans to estimate your monthly expenses and then look at how much you pay down on those to estimate your income. I'm imagine their model is robust but that is the data plus estimating your housing cost that they will look at.

It feels like you can put any value in that income field if you feel you can defend your position if they question you about it. So, I'm leaning towards answer A.

Applying for a mortgage is very different than applying for a credit card. In my situation, I have talked to banks and they aren't interested in underwriting me with a typical mortgage since my income that I report on my taxes is so variable. I do qualify for asset based mortgages which tend to have a higher interest rates.

As a side note, I have been unemployed and still successfully gotten credit cards. I think it's combination of my passive income and having a credit score that hovers around 840.