Comments on: Are Joint Credit Card Accounts a Good Idea?

By: Neil

Neil — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:00:13 +0000

When I first moved in with my girlfriend (now fiance) we tried a similar approach. It was complicated. What’s a joint expense, what’s not. Do you split the payment equally or relative to income. I found that because I had fewer charges on my personal account (no student loans to pay…I actually probably had higher discretionary spending), I would often have to put more money into joint spending and our down-payment savings simply because I was the one who had more available, despite making slightly less. Ultimately, after about 3 or 4 months of this, it just seemed stupid and we merged all of our accounts. You have to be on the same page when it comes to priorities and responsibility in order to do this, but in terms of simplifying family finance, it does seem like the way to go.

Re: Jessc – using a credit card for fixed monthly charges is a perfectly reasonable and rational thing to do. I haven’t paid a penny in interest, and have enjoyed thousands of dollars worth of free vacations by putting any spending item that will let me pay by cc on a card. This is what bugs me when people get up in arms about using credit cards for everything. It’s only a bad thing if you can’t pay it off. The rest of us are enjoying the good life, ultimately on the backs of those who are irresponsible.

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:54:46 +0000

When I got married, I searched and searched for an actual “joint” credit card to open, but I could not find any.. Like the author, I have only seen “individual” credit cards that allow authorized users, which is not the same as an actual joint card. So I added my wife to my credit cards as an authorized user. Because she did not have much credit history, this raised her credit score considerably.. However, I’ve been reading that sometime in the future, the method of calculating credit scores is going to be changed so that being an authorized user will no longer help your credit score. So we have opened a couple credit cards for my wife to build her own credit history. Right now, we both have our own American Express, Discover, and Mastercard. I think everyone should have their own credit card in their own name as this can definitely help your credit score, assuming you pay it in full on time every month. As to the person who disagrees with charging groceries and monthly expenses to your credit card, I have no idea why they would say that. We get cash back on all our credit card purchases. Why would anyone NOT use a credit card when they pay you to use them??? We pay all of our cards in full every month, and we don’t charge more on our cards than if we were using cash. In addition to building a credit history and getting paid cash back, credit cards also provide protections that you don’t get if you pay with cash or check.. All things considered, for any RESPONSIBLE person, there are absolutely no disadvantages and several advantages to paying with credit card instead of cash or check..

Regarding the checking account, we have one joint checking and one joint savings account, and all of our mutual fund accounts are held jointly.. As a married couple, we are not already planning our divorce. Someone who has the attitude that separate accounts are better because they will make your divorce easier is doomed to have an unsuccessful marriage. Joint accounts have the advantage that if one person becomes unable to act, the other person still has access and control over the finances. Or, if one person dies, the surviving joint owner automatically becomes owner, without having to go through probate.

Again, this type of arrange really only works if you have complete trust and faith in your spouse and marriage.. But if I didn’t have that trust in my spouse I wouldn’t have married in the first place.

By: sara l

sara l — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 02:59:25 +0000

We have a joint card for household stuff. For us that’s gas, groceries, and autobills regularly and a few other things occasionally. I check in on the card a few days a month and do most of the grocery shopping (my chore). It gets paid from a joint checking account where we put 80% of our income. So far we haven’t had any problems because before we do anything that falls outside of regular we talk about it. We also have personal cards for the more frivolous stuff.

By: Doug M

Doug M — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:22:20 +0000

Jessc098 well said. These comments are concerning. I felt the same regarding “joint” debt and accounts in that “hey, we are married, we should have everything in both our names”. Now that I have gone through my “second” divorce, let me tell you I will forever keep my finances separate. Allowing things to become “joint” has absolutely no benefit unless you are benefitting from filing your taxes as “married filing jointly”. Being “joint” shouldn’t be done to be “nice” or cordial in the relationship. Keep it separate….you can call it survival if you wish, but it is all about self-preservation. You will see the nightmare unfold if you reach divorce, and worse yet bankruptcy. Beware!!

By: Nick

Nick — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:39:33 +0000

My wife and I have a joint credit card, a joint checking account, as well as our personal checking accounts that we had before we married. I am responsible for all the bills, which makes separate checking accounts much safer. I can pay bills without worrying about her spending, and she can spend without worrying about tripping me up with the bills.

We use the join checking account for groceries and so forth. We never use credit cards except for emergencies, so the joint card has never been a problem. In fact, it really saved us this week because my wife got her wisdom teeth removed (and our dental insurance is worthless). She just charged it to the joint card and I’ll pay it off when I get paid next week.

The joint accounts work very well for us, but I also think having our personal accounts prevents us from stepping on each other’s toes with overdraft fees.

By: Jacqueline

Jacqueline — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:43:45 +0000

You can have joint credit cards with two primary users.

By: Jessc098

Jessc098 — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:05:19 +0000

I’m just reading through this and one thing really spoke to me. Couples are using credit cards for groceries and utilities? Recurring, fixed monthly budget expenses? Yikes! I hope their marriages are better than their financial sense.

My DH and I combined all finances and I managed all accounts (he’d never had a checking account before we were married). I was tired of maintaining a checkbook register with a bunch of his debit card reciepts missing, so switched him to a credit card.

Long story short, that was even harder to manage so he still keeps his pre-marriage cash plan, that worked for him and keeps me happy.

Still, the idea of putting recurring monthly expenses on revolving credit makes me very afraid. This sort of thing should be paid with real money!

My opinion only.

By: JEM

JEM — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:37:21 +0000

My hubby and I combined finances and got a joint credit card while we were engaged. It has helped us manage our money more effectively. When we had many different accounts things were too confusing. Luckily Hubby and I are on the same page when it comes to spending, if not things could have been ugly.

By: Sarah B.

Sarah B. — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:53:59 +0000

A few years ago, I had been dating a guy who I thought was very responsible. One day his truck broke down, and he didn’t have the money to fix it. Well, me and my eternal faith in humanity decided that I could co-sign on a Midas credit card with him, as he couldn’t get it himself. He broke up with me a month later, and as much as I thought he would do the responsible thing, all of a sudden I go to check my credit report and find that my points have dropped from Good to Abysmal. He hadn’t paid anything on the card in over 8 months. I called the company and closed the card from further charges, but I had to threaten my ex with a lawsuit before he finally paid the balance in full. I don’t know how he did it, and I don’t care, all I know is that it’s taken me years of hard work to bring my credit score back up, and that one account continues to be a huge blemish on my report. I’ll never do that again.

However, I DO believe that if you are in a long-term, committed relationship with someone, and you are both on the same page regarding finances etc, that it can certainly be mutually beneficial to open a joint account. Just make sure that you’re both adult enough to be able to handle it responsibly.

By: Live for Improvement

Live for Improvement — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:49:51 +0000

I tried a joint credit card with my wife, and stopped because it got complicated quickly, at the end of each month we were stuck trying to figure out how the bill got to be so much and then started anylzing each others transactions blaming each other for overspending.

I think the best way is to have a joint bill pay account for all of your mutual expenses. Each person contributes their portion plus a little extra just in case.

My money is my money, her money is her money, the bills get paid, and we are still happily married. Take my advice, don’t do joint credit cards.

-Dan Malone-