There are some of us who have a requirement for more than one credit card, and some who just prefer the potential flexibility. The most common combination is one card linked to MasterCard or Visa, and one card which is American Express.
Until recently this meant that if both cards were rewards cards, even with cards from the same financial institution it usually meant that you participated in two separate rewards schemes with the corresponding loss of potentially good rewards.
Standardised rewards schemes
There is however good news. Many of the banks and other companies have standardised their rewards schemes so that almost all their cards on offer will be linked to the same rewards points system.
There are still some specific rewards schemes such as those linked to only one airline or store for example, but even with some of these schemes it may be possible to combine points, even though there will probably be a certain loss of points, or point value.
Dual card accounts
A much more exciting new innovation is the introduction of the dual credit card account. These accounts issue two completely different cards to the same statement, account and monthly payments, and they are also linked to the same rewards points schemes.
There are some minor differences, for instance one example offered by NAB gives a linked American Express card and a Visa or MasterCard, but spending on the American Express will give 50% greater points per dollar ratio than spending on the other card.
There are similar accounts offered by all the big card providers and many of the smaller ones are beginning to join the trend. Details like these make it necessary to study the small print with great care, and have a good idea of how your spending is divided up in order to accurately compare different cards.
Extra Cardholders
Most of these accounts are also offering the facility to add extra cardholders to the same account, in some cases up to four extra people can be added for no extra cost.
The result of this is that you can actually have an account that fundamentally combines up to ten credit cards into one rewards points scheme, which in the right family situation for instance can make a rewards program very appealing.
Obviously the card providers are using these rewards points schemes to try and get people to do as much as possible of their spending through their cards, and if this sounds like something you want to do or already do, then the dual card accounts may be just what you should be considering.
