There are advantages and disadvantages of having joint credit cards with another person. Here are some of the advantages.

Have a common bill — having a joint credit card allows you to dispense with one extra bill. Ieper who lived under the same roof usually has one electricity Bill, one telephone bill etc. So it may only make sense to have one credit card bill as well especially when you are willing to share the expenses.

Help someone build a credit score — you can help someone who doesn’t have a credit history such as one of your kids build a credit score by having them as a joint account user on your credit card. The postal history from the credit card account will get reported on the credit report of both people who are present as joint account holders. Since authorized users on the credit card are no longer counted by many credit scoring models having someone as a joint account user on the credit card is the best way to help them build their credit history.

Help someone gets a credit card — for people who do not have a sufficient credit history or have an unsatisfactory credit rating, getting their credit application cosign from someone with a better credit score may be the only option. You can help someone like your own child get their first credit card by cosigning and becoming a joint account user on their credit card. If you have a strong credit history and credit rating then this may also allow the person you are cosigning with to get a better deal with the interest rate. Lenders typically tended to charge people with a lower credit score a higher rate of interest.

Disadvantages of  a Joint Credit Card Account

Legal Responsibility — whenever you sign as a cosigner on any account with another person it makes you fully and completely liable for the debt. This means that while you could have signed on a credit card application to help someone, you may be held liable for their debt in the future if they are unable to pay.

Relationship Problems — money matters are known to cause relationship problems whenever they are involved. Sharing a credit card would prove to be pretty much the same.

Sharing credit cards are more difficult to handle after breakups or divorce — whether you are separated or divorced both the people who are joint account holders on a credit card can be held liable for the debt. Each means that if your ex-spouse or ex-girlfriend or boyfriend has not paid the debt on the credit card you may be liable to pay it off. It’s does not matter who charged the money on the credit card because the creditor is within his rights to collect the money from whoever he thinks he has the better chance of recovery.

Vendetta – it may sound churlish but it is known to happen that after a breakup one of the credit card holders can go on a spending spree to get revenge on the other partner. What any people do not realize is that charging up a huge debt on the credit card just to get the cosigner under debt hurts the credit history of both the people when the debt is not paid or gets reported as late. Of course many times the person seeking revenge accounts on the fact that the other partner will not want the credit history to be damaged so will end up having to pay the money.