Credit card strategy for married couples

Married couples can share credit cards two ways:

1. Applicant / Authorized user (both can use the card but only the applicant is legally responsible for the debt incurred on the card)
2. Co-applicants (both can use the card and are responsible for the debt)

If you are married, do not add your spouse as a co-applicant–add him or her as an authorized user instead. If you do this, you can get two of each credit card offer instead of one. Moreover, you’ll occasionally be offered a modest bonus (5,000 miles or something along those lines) for adding authorized users.

Another tip for married couples: stagger your rounds of applications. Good deals often come along for a limited amount of time, sometimes just a few weeks or even a day. If you space out your applications between the two of you–for example, assuming you’re sticking to the 91-day rule, you do your applications on January 1, your spouse goes in mid-February, and such like–then you’ll never be more than 6 weeks away from a deal and you’ll be more likely to grab the unusually fine limited-time offers that come along.