Do you have joint credit cards with your spouse/SO?

[stefani]

I mean as truly joint, and not as an authorized user.

I just found out that for several years our credit cards are DH's and I am only an authorized user. That is not a good idea, isn't it?

Each of us have individual credit cards, but the ones that I thought were joint are not really joint.

What do you have? What do you think?

[wellyes]

Ours are all joint except he has a solo one for work. I trust him entirely but I wouldn't want him to be the owner of all the accounts, that would make me uncomfortable.

Perhaps it was set up that way due to him having good credit while you don't? Something like that?

[hillview]

all of ours are separate except our bank card (joint checking accounts). I want my own credit history and I had them before we met. We are considering moving to amex and I might go for joint there if I can share the account (vs losing credit history).

ETA DH and I are joint on the mortgage but my name is on the deed. We each have a car in our names. My name is on a second condo (my grandma's). We pay for everything together. My name is on the deed for the houses because DH has a lot of company stock so it was done for tax/equity/estate purposes. The cars just made sense for one of us to deal with the paperwork.
/hillary

[Uno-Mom]

I said other because we don't do credit cards, period.

But, if we did do credit cards, they would absolutely be joint. I know lots and lots of people have awesome marriages but keep their finances and credit history separate. I do know that. For us *personally* and the way we look at our marriage + money, we never keep anything separate. If I or dh ever started separating things out, it would be a danger sign in our relationship. (That's totally just us and how our brains work ... I'm not saying that's true about other people's relationships!)

[niccig]

I'm authorized or joint on DH's I'm not sure, and I have my own credit card, which DH is not on. DH had his cards for years before we met, and when we got married I had to wait for social security number, but he could put me on as authorized user. He did that day after marriage as he was tired of having to go to ATM to give me cash.

I've never had issue with not being fully joint - I'm not on the mortgage or the car either as my credit rating isn't as good as his, as not here long enough. House is in both our names though. Car is just in his. Only issue has been with mortgage as they won't talk to me, but all the other account holders will.

[Liziz]

Individual only here. When we got married, we both had our own cards, and although we keep saying we mean to at least become authorized users on each others (or do joint), we haven't done it yet. Everything else financial is joint, though (checking and savings, investments, etc), and we both have full access to the CC statements for both cards we commonly use. If we open a new CC account in the future, it would definitely be joint.

I'd definitely encourage you to make sure you have at least one CC where you are truly the owner, rather than just an authorized user -- I don't know all the intricacies of credit scores, but I do know that while being an authorized user will show up, it doesn't give you as much "credit" as building history as a full account owner.

[JBaxter]

We have 2 one Im a the primary and he has a card ( and actually Logan does also) The other he is the primary and I have a card. He doesnt have a Kohls card though thats all mine :D

[army_mom]

We have separate credit cards only. Our cars are joint credit (both bought after we got married) but we already had credit cards when we got married so we just kept it that way since we spent our first 15 months of marriage separated while DH was deployed. We just haven't gotten around to opening a joint card and quite honestly would probably never use it anyway as we are used to using "our" cards. We have a joint savings account and that is about all that is joint for us. We do have access to each other's accounts though. I like having separate accounts so DH doesn't see how much/often I shop! :wink2:

[SnuggleBuggles]

I got mine pre-marriage and thus dh just got added when we got married. He's an autorized user. Hasn't been an issue.
Beth

[BeachBum]

I chose other because I don't know and it doesn't matter to me.

[KrisM]

I got mine pre-marriage and thus dh just got added when we got married. He's an autorized user. Hasn't been an issue.
Beth

This is us, too. We use the one I had before we got married, so I'm pretty sure he's a user on it only. But, it's the only card we both use at all, other than Kohl's. Kohl's is only mine. Hasn't been any issue.

[georgiegirl]

Hmmm. I have 3 of my own, one before marriage, one gap card, and a target card. He's not an authorized user on any, although I've been meaning to add him to the redcard. We have an Amex...I think it's joint. And he has a card that I'm an authorized user on (I think I'm only authorized, not joint.). He doesn't have any that I'm not authorized on. Nothing in our arrangement bothers or worries me. We are jount on the house and both cars.

[JElaineB]

Ours are all individual except for one home improvement store card that is either joint or I am an authorized user on. That one has rebates each year depending on the amount you spend, so what we spend is pooled. I prefer to keep our cards separate otherwise for some reason, but our bank accounts are all joint.

[ett]

All of our credit cards are either joint or authorized user. I'm honestly not sure how it is on each card. Some of the cards are from pre-marriage where we just added the other's name onto it.

[kozachka]

DH made me an authorized user on his credit card even before we were engaged (crazy, I know) once we moved to the States or else he always had to give me cash. I got my own AmEx while still in business school, after being an authorized user on DH's for couple years, and as soon as I had some income (from summer internship). Since then we closed DH's credit cards for various reasons, and I've added him as an authorized user to my AmEx. He is also an authorized user on my other 2 credit cards as my income is easier to verify (he has his own business) and simply because he has not bothered to apply for one of his own. DH still has a better credit score than I since he's had credit for far longer than I since he's older and I did not get my first credit card till mid-20s.

Can you be a joint user? I always thought that you are either a primary or an authorized owner of a credit card, no other option.

[sweetsue98]

We have seperate accounts on everything. Credit cards and savings and checking. It just seems easier that way.

[mjs64]

We have seperate accounts on everything. Credit cards and savings and checking. It just seems easier that way.

This is us, but we do have a joint checking account that we mostly use for transferring money to each other. We divide bills--each of us has our own responsibilities. I do car insurance, he does phones, etc. This is what works for us. We have separate credit cards and are authorized users, but I've never used his accounts. This is not a bad thing for us at all. Otherwise, we would both be quibbling about each other's minor expenditures. We do have bimonthly talks about finances and have similar goals for the future.

ETA: Oh, we do have joint savings that each of us contributes to then doesn't touch. I also have my own savings acct.

[jren]

I *think* that our main cc is in my name, and we got an extra card with my DH's name on it. I think we did it this way b/c my credit qualified me for a better deal than him at the time. We have that one main card that we both use, and then we have one joint bank account - both have debit cards for that account. Anytime we have anything, both our names are on it, but he is primary for things like the mortgage b/c he's the wage earner. I do have slightly better credit, though. Have no idea why since I haven't worked in almost 10 years. We laugh about it all the time.

[lizzywednesday]

DH has his own cards and I have my own (department store) card.

I am an authorized user on one card, which we've designated "for emergency use only," and I'm perfectly fine with that.

[roseyloxs]

All our finances are joint except for our credit cards. Someone once told us its a good idea to maintain our own separate credit histories by having our own credit cards. We know each other passwords though so its not like either are off limits to the other.

[Pear]

Our main card is one DH had before we married and I am an authorized user. I also have my own cards and make sure to use them every month and pay them off every month. We actually have one of my cards set up as our credit card on both DH and my amazon accounts so it gets plenty of activity.

[maestramommy]

I think all of our CCs are joint, except our Target Redcard, in which Dh is an authorized user. Oh wait, dh recently opened a Lowes card. I think it's all his. Or maybe I'm an authorized user. No idea, since I almost never shop there :D

[BabbyO]

We are joint on 1 card through our bank (well I believe we are joint). I don't know what it means to be an authorized user vs joint.

The rest of our cards are separate and most of mine are pre-dating/pre-married so I have a credit history of my own.