Most people understand that there’s more to a relationship than the romance and passion of the honeymoon stage. It’s a common refrain that sustaining ties with your partner is hard work.The physical and emotional labour that’s required to be a good partner can at times be somewhat daunting for some.
One aspect of a relationship that puts a toll on a couple’s physical and emotional well-being is the simple and often banal aspect of work and money. Depending on which stage of life you’re in, how you engage in your finances and your relationships can somewhat parallel each other.
So making good financial choices together is somewhat crucial in a stable relationship. An extension to that is the touchy subject of maintaining good credit.
As noted in an article by Time, joint credit cards are a means to let more than one person use the same credit account. In the Malaysian context, it mainly refers to supplementary card users. It’s mainly done to award some convenience to one partner or in case of emergencies when said partner is cash-strapped.
The Best Joint Credit Cards for Couples to Have
🏡For everyday together
While we’ve covered some of the best cards for shopping in general, These are the cards that will reward you for spending on your daily necessities. While they have their limits and won’t reward you much for spending on travel or luxuries, they’re very good at rewarding everyday usage on more practical everyday things. As a joint credit card for couples or spouses, they’re particularly useful for people who share a life together.
Standard Chartered Simply Cash Credit Card
This is a pretty good card overall for couples or just people living together in general. It offers cash backs for what are essentially daily necessities - petrol if you commute to work and selected eWallet, groceries and dining out spends.
There’s no annual fee for the first year and should you share a credit card with your spouse or partner or have a joint credit card, it’ll be easier to nail the RM12,000 minimum spend to have that annual RM250 fee waived altogether.
If you’re invited, the combination of Flexipay and Cash-on-Call makes this card particularly useful in an emergency situation, such as hospital trips or a sudden need for travel.
Requirements:
- Minimum monthly income RM 3,000
- Annual fees RM250, waived the first year and subsequent years with minimum spend of RM12,000
RHB Cash Back Visa Credit Card
Another great card that also provides cash backs for daily necessity spends - up to 10% for online grocery and dining spends and 5% on petrol, groceries and most crucially, utilities spends.
Throughout this year, it also has its own flexible instalment plan in the form of Dial-an-Instalment as well as zero-interest CashXCess withdrawals, which are also good for emergencies.
The only downside to this card is that maximum cashback requires a RM2,500 minimum monthly spend. However, should you share a credit card with your spouse or partner, your collective spending might be able to make up for it.
Requirements:
- Minimum monthly income RM2,000
- Annual fees RM70, waived the first year and subsequent years with minimum RM10,000 spend
😴For the Homebodies
This covers a very particular niche that deserves some attention. Post-pandemic, working from home has become far more common. Some professions, particularly in IT and customer service, are now very commonly remote work.
This is especially attractive for married couples with younger children who need to be tended to. And oftentimes, it's simply nice to spend a quiet evening at home with the ones you love.
For couples who’d rather stay at home to relax or find themselves working at home, purchasing online and having everything from food, groceries to clothes and furniture delivered to your doorstep is a godsend.
And if you can be rewarded by using a credit card to make said purchases, all the better.
Alliance Bank Visa Virtual Credit Card
Being Malaysia’s first virtual credit card, the app isn’t just convenient but safe - having a feature that masks your card number with every purchase.
More crucially, it rewards you and your partner for online and e-wallet purchases with 8X Timeless Bonus points. So if you get a lot of Grabfood or you love shopping online, this card is very good for accumulating Timeless points, which don’t expire.
And to top it all off, this virtual card demands no annual fees.
Requirements:
- Minimum monthly income RM2,000
- NO annual fees for life
Hong Leong Sutera Platinum Card
This is another card that’ll reward you for your online purchases. Like the card above, it too offers 8X reward points Online Spend merchants, groceries, essentials and dining.
The difference is that this card has a more general scope too, rewarding the same amount for overseas purchases (for when you want to go on holiday abroad for a change).
The Hong Leong Club Rewards programme also puts you and your partner in standing to win gifts and vouchers for hotels and dining.
Requirements:
- Minimum monthly income RM3,000
- Annual fees RM120, waived on the first year if you swipe within 45 days of card issuance
💃🕺For a Good Time Out: UOB Preferred Card
While we’ve touched on credit cards for more practical applications, when talking about relationships it’s important to know that some level of fun and romance is important.
This card is interesting because it’s kind of perfect for dates. It offers 5X UNIRM points for groceries and 3X UNIRM for petrol, which makes it a practical everyday card. But it offers 5X UNIRM for dining and entertainment as well.
On top of that, it has perks like 1-for-1 offers at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and movie tickets at Golden Screen Cinemas on Fridays (except for the Aurum Theatre). It also has other 1-for-1 offers, including dining at the Shangri-La this year.
If you want a card that has some practicality but love spending time with your partner having fun, this is definitely the card for you.
Requirements:
- Minimum monthly income RM3,333
- Annual fees RM198
😍Conclusion
Whichever credit card you decide to chose to help you along with the finances of you and your partner, make sure that you have an earnest and open conversation about what they need and whether they can handle the toll of managing such a potent financial tool.
But if you’re ready to take the plunge, then by all means, jump the financial broom, get a joint credit card and let your benefits be hitched too! 🥰
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