{"id":7200,"date":"2009-07-14T20:00:45","date_gmt":"2009-07-15T00:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/?p=7200"},"modified":"2009-07-14T20:00:45","modified_gmt":"2009-07-15T00:00:45","slug":"leveraging-reward-credit-cards-as-a-couple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/leveraging-reward-credit-cards-as-a-couple\/","title":{"rendered":"Leveraging Reward Credit Cards As A Couple"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are two different ways that couples can manage their finances.\u00a0\u00a0 Some prefer to manage their separately, while others pool all of their resources.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For many reasons, my wife and I prefer to manage our financial resources jointly.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Both of our parents do the same, and it never really occurred to us to do otherwise.\u00a0\u00a0 This article is almost exclusively for couple who manage their finances jointly, although even those who manage their money separately might be able to employ some of these tips and tricks.<\/p>\n

Double Your Sign Up Bonuses<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the nicest features about reward cards is the sign up bonus.\u00a0\u00a0 Even a small spender can get a big sign up bonus from most credit cards.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Go ahead and apply for the same card for both of you, and double your bonus.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There are few good reasons not to, although I will mention one below.<\/p>\n

Get Bonuses For Additional Cards<\/strong><\/p>\n

When looking into a new credit card application, always see if there is a bonus for an additional card.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If there is, get it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The bonuses are modest, often 2,500 points or so, but every point counts.\u00a0\u00a0 You can cut the card up or cancel it later.<\/p>\n

Consolidate Your Use
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miles are worth more when they are concentrated in one account, as few programs allow you to transfer miles between accounts for a reasonable cost.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Even if you and your partner have each the same card, you should both use only one account.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is especially important if the account offers bonuses at certain spending milestones.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For example, my American Express Starwood card offers Starwood Gold status when we spend $30,000 in a calendar year.\u00a0\u00a0 Since we almost always travel together, it really doesn’t matter who’s name the status is in.<\/p>\n

Conserve Your One Time Status Bonuses<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some credit cards offer status bonuses for certain uses.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For example, the American Express Delta Reserve card<\/a> will give you 10,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) after your first purchase.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One one of you should get a new Reserve card in one year.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With the desired status, both you and your partner can utilize almost all of the privileges of the person with status when traveling together.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This way, the other person can still utilize the MQM bonus in the future if you are in danger of loosing status.\u00a0\u00a0 This is the one situation that I referred to previously where I would recommend that a couple only has one card.<\/p>\n

Don’t Pay Too Many Annual Fees<\/strong><\/p>\n

If both of you have a particular card, you should definitely cancel one of them, once you have to pay the annual fee.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Most cards offer to waive the annual fee for the the first year, so it is usually a good idea to get two cards for the sign up bonus.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On the other hand, don’t bother keeping both cards if they are asking you to pay an annual fee.<\/p>\n

Simplify Your Bill Paying<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you consolidate your spending on one card, it is easy to simplify your bills.\u00a0\u00a0 This saves you time and reduces the chance of fee inducing errors.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 While it is nice when couples share chores, it works best for us when only one of us pays the bills.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We pay our bills online, as everyone should, and only one of us really needs to worry about it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In this way, we avoid either paying a bill twice or forgetting to pay them all together.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, jointly managing your credit card portfolio, a couple can earn greater rewards and enjoy status bonuses more often, while reducing their bill paying time and increasing their accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are two different ways that couples can manage their finances.\u00a0\u00a0 Some prefer to manage their separately, while others pool all of their resources.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For many reasons, my wife and I prefer to manage our financial resources jointly.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Both of our parents do the same, and it never really occurred to us to do otherwise.\u00a0\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nLeveraging Reward Credit Cards As A Couple<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/leveraging-reward-credit-cards-as-a-couple\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leveraging Reward Credit Cards As A Couple\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are two different ways that couples can manage their finances.\u00a0\u00a0 Some prefer to manage their separately, while others pool all of their resources.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For many reasons, my wife and I prefer to manage our financial resources jointly.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Both of our parents do the same, and it never really occurred to us to do otherwise.\u00a0\u00a0 […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.askmrcreditcard.com\/news\/leveraging-reward-credit-cards-as-a-couple\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ask Mr Credit Card Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-15T00:00:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jason Steele\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta 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