Sharing a credit card account

Would it cause any problems if I let my family members use my credit card to earn cash back rewards? My parents, for example, don’t want their own card, but they’d use mine and I’d reap the rewards. Would this raise flags at the bank or anything?

The idea of sharing a credit card account with your family members to boost your rewards, such as points or cash back, makes sense. However, your bank or credit card provider may have rules against you sharing one card among multiple people. Sharing a card likely also means sharing a security PIN for larger purchases and involves your card being used by unauthorized people.

Banks and credit card companies tend to object to multiple people using the same card and may include terms in your card agreement which prohibit sharing your card and PIN. There are also risks for you. More people using your card means more opportunities for it to get lost, stolen, or compromised.

Fortunately, there is a solution which benefits everyone. You can call your credit card provider and ask them to add an authorized user to your account. Most providers will allow you to add a few trusted people to your account and set individual limits on their spending. Each person then gets their own physical card, their own card number, and their own PIN.

This means you can have a credit card with a $25,000 limit, for example. Your partner could have another card which is attached to the same account, also with the same $25,000 limit. You could then assign cards to your parents and limit them to $5,000 each, and give cards to your children (assuming they’re old enough) with $1,000 limits each. The money for each card pulls from the same $25,000 account and the rewards all feed back into your account.

In the event someone loses their card or it is compromised, their card can be replaced without affecting your card or the cards of your other family members. The limits on each card can be raised or lowered as you feel appropriate.

Most banks will allow you to request cards for authorized users through their website, or you can call their customer support line to get cards assigned to your family members.