Shared credit card pro/con

[braumeister]

Not too long ago I noticed that DW had no credit card that was in her name alone. So I had her get an Apple Card and she got a credit limit that was about 10% lower than mine (Apple Cards are tied to an individual's AppleID). All our other credit cards are joint accounts.

Now Apple is pushing a new option to make a "family account" and it's being talked up a lot. For us, that would mean merging our two Apple Cards into one, presumably with my higher credit limit.

So there would be a small advantage, but I still like the idea of her keeping her current card for no other reason than having one strictly in her name (they both get paid off monthly out of a shared bank account).

I wonder if I'm missing anything?

[Aerides]

I agree, particularly if she outlives you, it's important that she have some card/credit history in her name.

So while a joint apple card might be cool, in her shoes I'd get a solo card with another issuer as well. Or make her the primary on this new family account, and forgo the 10% (it'll probably grow back after use?)

[Jerry1]

I’d leave it alone. Having a separate card may help you if one of your other cards gets compromised. I doubt the credit limit increase would be of any real benefit to your DW.

[jollystomper]

^^^ I agree that keeping at least one card separate is a good idea for backup purposes in case of a compromise. We have a couple of shared cards along with each of us having our own separate card.

[caninelover]

I think (but am not certain) that a joint card (or card with DW as an authorized user) would still give her a credit history.

But for practical/disaster recovery purposes (e.g. your identity is stolen) having at least one card per individual in the couple is a good idea. Obviously make sure user ID's and passwords are sufficiently different so if one of you is hacked the other isn't an easy target.

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by caninelover I think (but am not certain) that a joint card (or card with DW as an authorized user) would still give her a credit history. But for practical/disaster recovery purposes (e.g. your identity is stolen) having at least one card per individual in the couple is a good idea. Obviously make sure user ID's and passwords are sufficiently different so if one of you is hacked the other isn't an easy target.

That's a very good point. Hacking shouldn't be a problem since we have a number of other joint cards, but I forgot about the identity theft risk. That alone would justify having her keep her own card her. And you're right about the credit history accounting separately for joint owners in this case -- they spell that out clearly in the fine print.

[OldShooter]

Our criterion is primarily travel convenience. We have two checking accounts at different banks, technically they are joint, but DW runs hers and I run mine. We have a debit card for each. When traveling one debit card gets used for ATMs and the other is a backup. We also have two joint credit cards, different issuers, she runs hers and I run mine. These are used for most on-the-road and at-home purchases. If one card gets blocked when we are traveling (this has happened and took a day or so to fix) we have the other one.

We don't have any other cards.

I have never known or cared what this arrangement does to our credit scores.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerides I agree, particularly if she outlives you, it's important that she have some card/credit history in her name.

For that reason alone several years ago (well, more like 25 years) I insisted that DW get some credit cards in her name. She initially resisted, being of the opinion that credit cards are an invention and marketing tool of the devil. It took some persuasion but I convinced her that on occasion using a cc was okay, sort of like the occasional glass of wine, but only if it was paid off quickly.

[Sunset]

DW & I each keep all our CC separate.

I like it as I know each of us will have a long credit history and a bunch of CC's available even if the other one has their identity stolen.

We each had separate credit before we met, and we continued it. No reason to merge the CC's.

We also have our bank accounts and stock accounts separate.

[grayv]

combining sounds like a worse arrangement. she needs a card with no jointness.