Building Your Personal Credit Card Strategy
Miles and Points with a Partner (2 Person Mode)
If you and a partner/spouse are working together to accumulate miles and points, this is often referred to as "two person mode."
Often one person is more into earning travel points than the other, and they are referred to as P1. The other person is P2. If you have others you are working with (parents, adult children, etc), they become P3, P4, etc.
Having a P2 means that you can accrue points more than twice as fast as if you are in single person mode. This is because you are able to take advantage of referral bonuses to get even more points. More points = more free travel!
While we always encourage the use of our affiliate links, referrals are part of a successful strategy and we always encourage you to use them when available!
Example
Say you open a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card with a bonus of 75,000 points. A couple months later you refer your P2 to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, still with a bonus of 75,000 points. Chase almost always offers a referral bonus on this card of 10,000-15,000 points (can vary). If they use your link when they apply, you will get a 10,000+ point bonus and now you have 10,000 more points (plus whatever you earn from spend + bonuses) — enough for a pretty nice vacation!
These figures are just sample figures, offers change as well as referral bonuses. These are based on offers we have seen but may not be accurate at the time you view this post
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Opens Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (through affiliate link)Earns 75k sign up bonus
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Refers P2Earns 10k referral bonus
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Opens Chase Sapphire Preferred® CardEarns 75k sign up bonus
My Three Year Plan has a two-person plan that specifically takes into account referral bonuses to make this easier for you to maximize!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, authorized users always qualify for their own card and sign up bonus.
This depends on the type of miles and points. Each bank and loyalty program has their own rules.
Chase Ultimate Rewards can be combined with people in your household (same address). Capital One Venture Miles can typically be combined with another member (you will have to call to initiate the transfer). If your P2 is an authorized user, you sometimes will be able to also transfer the points to your P2's airline or hotel loyalty program account.
American Express Membership Rewards cannot be transferred to another member, but can be transferred to an authorized user's hotel or airline loyalty account.
Airline miles can typically be transferred to another person at a cost, but it's rarely worth paying the transfer fee.
Some hotel programs, such as World of Hyatt and Marriott Bonvoy, allow you to transfer points to another member free of charge.
Ready to refer your P2? Watch the quick demo below to see how to pull up your Chase referral links to send to them.
