topic Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users? in Credit Cards

How do you handle your Authorized Users?

NRB525 — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 19:02:48 GMT

My first instance of having an AU was to add my now-wife to my Lowes card earlier this year. In that case, all the charges show up on my log in to the Sync Lowes account.

Adding her as an AU on my new Freedom Flex card, not sure how the charges she makes will be visible on my card? On my Chase log in? Also on hers?

What is your experience with Authorized Users, since often these seem to be outside the household? Are different banks handling the tracking of AU charges differently?

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

Remedios — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 19:24:52 GMT

For Chase, there is no separate login for AUs, all the charges will be present in your account .

If you need to be able to separate them, you can add "memo" once the charge posts.

Tracking wise, not sure what it looks like on the backend, there is nothing different between mine and my daughter's card (I added her when the card was issued so everything but name is same).

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

Anonymalous — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 22:46:09 GMT

It's worth remembering that authorized users are not responsible for the charges on the card. If you give someone an AU card, then you're responsible for paying it off, not them. So even if your financial institution allows your AU to login and see the charges from their account, that's just a bonus. You're the primary, and it should always be visible (and payable) from your account.

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

Remedios — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 23:33:39 GMT

@Anonymalous wrote:
It's worth remembering that authorized users are not responsible for the charges on the card. If you give someone an AU card, then you're responsible for paying it off, not them. So even if your financial institution allows your AU to login and see the charges from their account, that's just a bonus. You're the primary, and it should always be visible (and payable) from your account.

There isn't a single lender that doesn't show all transactions for primary cardholder.

Some, like Amex, will not show transactions to AUs that were made by primary cardholder.

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

NRB525 — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 03:06:06 GMT

@Anonymalous wrote:
It's worth remembering that authorized users are not responsible for the charges on the card. If you give someone an AU card, then you're responsible for paying it off, not them. So even if your financial institution allows your AU to login and see the charges from their account, that's just a bonus. You're the primary, and it should always be visible (and payable) from your account.

Yes, but that is the crux of my question. If people give friends an AU card, what are some of the agreements these cardholders have with their AU? At the least it would seem a regular communication between the cardholder and AU would be necessary.

How do you keep separate, and yet coordinated, the arrangement that the AU needs to pay their charges? Does the cardholder statement distinguish the AU balance separately? School me .

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

NRB525 — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 03:08:11 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
@Anonymalous wrote:
It's worth remembering that authorized users are not responsible for the charges on the card. If you give someone an AU card, then you're responsible for paying it off, not them. So even if your financial institution allows your AU to login and see the charges from their account, that's just a bonus. You're the primary, and it should always be visible (and payable) from your account.

There isn't a single lender that doesn't show all transactions for primary cardholder.
Some, like Amex, will not show transactions to AUs that were made by primary cardholder.

Does that mean some banks will let the AU see the primary cardholder charges? Or the AU only sees the overall utilization on the card to be aware when the limit is nearing?

Is AMEX allowing the primary cardholder to allocate a portion of the limit for the AU to see and utilize?

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

Remedios — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 03:29:18 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
@Remedios wrote:
@Anonymalous wrote:
It's worth remembering that authorized users are not responsible for the charges on the card. If you give someone an AU card, then you're responsible for paying it off, not them. So even if your financial institution allows your AU to login and see the charges from their account, that's just a bonus. You're the primary, and it should always be visible (and payable) from your account.

There isn't a single lender that doesn't show all transactions for primary cardholder.
Some, like Amex, will not show transactions to AUs that were made by primary cardholder.
Does that mean some banks will let the AU see the primary cardholder charges? Or the AU only sees the overall utilization on the card to be aware when the limit is nearing?
Is AMEX allowing the primary cardholder to allocate a portion of the limit for the AU to see and utilize?

Chase, it's a single login, yours. If you want your AU to see charges, either you show it to them or you give them login.

Disco, US Bank, Cap One are same as Chase, basically at your discretion.

None of them allow setting different spend limit for AU, nor do they allow separate login. I think Citi is same, but don't quote me on that one.

Amex lets AU set up separate log in, they only see their charges. You can set spending limit for AUs and they can make payments using their login. They do not see charges primary account holder made.

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

imaximous — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 03:56:35 GMT

Citi allows you to give separate access to authorized users. I've added DW's cards I'm AU on to my personal Citi login. I don't have all Citi cards, but the only one that issues a different card number for AUs is Costco, and you can set a spending limit for them. All others share the same exact card info, so you can't really separate purchases. You can also see all purchases made under the account from the AU login.

Cap One issues different card numbers to AUs, so you can see who made the charges. You can also set their "access level," so you can make them simple AUs or account managers. The latter allows them to have a login and have full access, but not entirely sure how much access is full access. I don't see an option to limit AU's spending, though.

Basically, the only cards where it's simple to separate charges are the ones that assign individual card numbers and not share the same with everyone.

This is much easier to accomplish with business cards or Amex.

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

delaney1 — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 04:41:47 GMT

With Capital One, you can definitely limit the AU's spending. My husband has full access to my limit. My kids have limited access, one has a $500 limit, the other has a $2000 limit. I'm not sure why most banks don't give a different card number for AUs. I love that Capital One does.

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

NRB525 — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 11:42:29 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
@NRB525 wrote:
@Remedios wrote:
@Anonymalous wrote:
It's worth remembering that authorized users are not responsible for the charges on the card. If you give someone an AU card, then you're responsible for paying it off, not them. So even if your financial institution allows your AU to login and see the charges from their account, that's just a bonus. You're the primary, and it should always be visible (and payable) from your account.

There isn't a single lender that doesn't show all transactions for primary cardholder.
Some, like Amex, will not show transactions to AUs that were made by primary cardholder.
Does that mean some banks will let the AU see the primary cardholder charges? Or the AU only sees the overall utilization on the card to be aware when the limit is nearing?
Is AMEX allowing the primary cardholder to allocate a portion of the limit for the AU to see and utilize?
Chase, it's a single login, yours. If you want your AU to see charges, either you show it to them or you give them login.
Disco, US Bank, Cap One are same as Chase, basically at your discretion.
None of them allow setting different spend limit for AU, nor do they allow separate login. I think Citi is same, but don't quote me on that one.

Amex lets AU set up separate log in, they only see their charges. You can set spending limit for AUs and they can make payments using their login. They do not see charges primary account holder made.

Wow, this is eye opening in a rather frightful way. DW has her own Chase log in, so I guess we will explore whether she sees the AU card once issued. I'm not at all concerned about the charges in this case, since we are married, but I'm scratching my head how anyone would want a non-family member, someone who is only a friend, to be AU.

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

NRB525 — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 11:46:26 GMT

@imaximous wrote:
Citi allows you to give separate access to authorized users. I've added DW's cards I'm AU on to my personal Citi login. I don't have all Citi cards, but the only one that issues a different card number for AUs is Costco, and you can set a spending limit for them. All others share the same exact card info, so you can't really separate purchases. You can also see all purchases made under the account from the AU login.

Cap One issues different card numbers to AUs, so you can see who made the charges. You can also set their "access level," so you can make them simple AUs or account managers. The latter allows them to have a login and have full access, but not entirely sure how much access is full access. I don't see an option to limit AU's spending, though.

Basically, the only cards where it's simple to separate charges are the ones that assign individual card numbers and not share the same with everyone.
This is much easier to accomplish with business cards or Amex.

I did look at Capital One a few years ago, and thought I saw they allowed setting a limit for AU, but perhaps I misread that. Closed Capital One last year, but I may have to experiment with my Custom Cash as an AU to see how that one works as well.

Thanks for the examples.

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

NRB525 — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 11:47:07 GMT

@delaney1 wrote:
With Capital One, you can definitely limit the AU's spending. My husband has full access to my limit. My kids have limited access, one has a $500 limit, the other has a $2000 limit. I'm not sure why most banks don't give a different card number for AUs. I love that Capital One does.

Yes, this aligns with what I thought I understood about Cap One.

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

imaximous — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 13:49:16 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
@imaximous wrote:
Citi allows you to give separate access to authorized users. I've added DW's cards I'm AU on to my personal Citi login. I don't have all Citi cards, but the only one that issues a different card number for AUs is Costco, and you can set a spending limit for them. All others share the same exact card info, so you can't really separate purchases. You can also see all purchases made under the account from the AU login.

Cap One issues different card numbers to AUs, so you can see who made the charges. You can also set their "access level," so you can make them simple AUs or account managers. The latter allows them to have a login and have full access, but not entirely sure how much access is full access. I don't see an option to limit AU's spending, though.

Basically, the only cards where it's simple to separate charges are the ones that assign individual card numbers and not share the same with everyone.
This is much easier to accomplish with business cards or Amex.
I did look at Capital One a few years ago, and thought I saw they allowed setting a limit for AU, but perhaps I misread that. Closed Capital One last year, but I may have to experiment with my Custom Cash as an AU to see how that one works as well.
Thanks for the examples.

I'm not sure what Cap One cards allow that, but I can tell you that my Savor and Walmart cards don't have an option to set a limit. When you go to the section to manage authorized users, you're only able to set their access level. It's either account manager or authorized user. There's no option to add a limit anywhere there.

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

delaney1 — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 14:15:16 GMT

@imaximous wrote:
@NRB525 wrote:
@imaximous wrote:
Citi allows you to give separate access to authorized users. I've added DW's cards I'm AU on to my personal Citi login. I don't have all Citi cards, but the only one that issues a different card number for AUs is Costco, and you can set a spending limit for them. All others share the same exact card info, so you can't really separate purchases. You can also see all purchases made under the account from the AU login.

Cap One issues different card numbers to AUs, so you can see who made the charges. You can also set their "access level," so you can make them simple AUs or account managers. The latter allows them to have a login and have full access, but not entirely sure how much access is full access. I don't see an option to limit AU's spending, though.

Basically, the only cards where it's simple to separate charges are the ones that assign individual card numbers and not share the same with everyone.
This is much easier to accomplish with business cards or Amex.
I did look at Capital One a few years ago, and thought I saw they allowed setting a limit for AU, but perhaps I misread that. Closed Capital One last year, but I may have to experiment with my Custom Cash as an AU to see how that one works as well.
Thanks for the examples.
I'm not sure what Cap One cards allow that, but I can tell you that my Savor and Walmart cards don't have an option to set a limit. When you go to the section to manage authorized users, you're only able to set their access level. It's either account manager or authorized user. There's no option to add a limit anywhere there.

@imaximous You have to call in for the initial setup. Once you do that, you can access it yourself online. My kids are AUs on my Savor, and I set the limits I wanted them to have. Not sure why CapOne doesn't promote this feature.

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

stonedog23 — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 14:33:41 GMT

The OP asks how do you handle AUs since most are from outside the household. That struck me as strange because I probably would never have an AU from outside the household.

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

imaximous — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 14:39:51 GMT

@delaney1 wrote:
@imaximous wrote:
@NRB525 wrote:
@imaximous wrote:
Citi allows you to give separate access to authorized users. I've added DW's cards I'm AU on to my personal Citi login. I don't have all Citi cards, but the only one that issues a different card number for AUs is Costco, and you can set a spending limit for them. All others share the same exact card info, so you can't really separate purchases. You can also see all purchases made under the account from the AU login.

Cap One issues different card numbers to AUs, so you can see who made the charges. You can also set their "access level," so you can make them simple AUs or account managers. The latter allows them to have a login and have full access, but not entirely sure how much access is full access. I don't see an option to limit AU's spending, though.

Basically, the only cards where it's simple to separate charges are the ones that assign individual card numbers and not share the same with everyone.
This is much easier to accomplish with business cards or Amex.
I did look at Capital One a few years ago, and thought I saw they allowed setting a limit for AU, but perhaps I misread that. Closed Capital One last year, but I may have to experiment with my Custom Cash as an AU to see how that one works as well.
Thanks for the examples.
I'm not sure what Cap One cards allow that, but I can tell you that my Savor and Walmart cards don't have an option to set a limit. When you go to the section to manage authorized users, you're only able to set their access level. It's either account manager or authorized user. There's no option to add a limit anywhere there.
@imaximous You have to call in for the initial setup. Once you do that, you can access it yourself online. My kids are AUs on my Savor, and I set the limits I wanted them to have. Not sure why CapOne doesn't promote this feature.

Thanks for the info. I have one of my kids as AU on the Savor. I'd normally give her the card only when needed. Been afraid of her holding the card all the time with a very high limit. Not that she's not responsible enough but still.
I'll be calling to get this set up. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

EAJuggalo — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 21:49:08 GMT

With Chase there is no differentiation because they give all cards on the account the same number. The only difference between my cards and my wife's is one letter in the first name. With AMEX, the numbers are different, on the transaction screen it lists the initials of which AU made which purchases. Each AU also has their own offers. I've got an offer for Olive Garden on my card, she also has one on hers. If she doesn't activate hers, when she uses her card to pay it won't trigger the offer, even though it was active on the account.

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

CreditInspired — Sun, 31 Oct 2021 06:14:48 GMT

@stonedog23 wrote:
The OP asks how do you handle AUs since most are from outside the household. That struck me as strange because I probably would never have an AU from outside the household.

My thoughts exactly!

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

CaptJOB — Sun, 31 Oct 2021 07:19:32 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
@Remedios wrote:
@NRB525 wrote:
@Remedios wrote:
@Anonymalous wrote:
It's worth remembering that authorized users are not responsible for the charges on the card. If you give someone an AU card, then you're responsible for paying it off, not them. So even if your financial institution allows your AU to login and see the charges from their account, that's just a bonus. You're the primary, and it should always be visible (and payable) from your account.

There isn't a single lender that doesn't show all transactions for primary cardholder.
Some, like Amex, will not show transactions to AUs that were made by primary cardholder.
Does that mean some banks will let the AU see the primary cardholder charges? Or the AU only sees the overall utilization on the card to be aware when the limit is nearing?
Is AMEX allowing the primary cardholder to allocate a portion of the limit for the AU to see and utilize?
Chase, it's a single login, yours. If you want your AU to see charges, either you show it to them or you give them login.
Disco, US Bank, Cap One are same as Chase, basically at your discretion.
None of them allow setting different spend limit for AU, nor do they allow separate login. I think Citi is same, but don't quote me on that one.

Amex lets AU set up separate log in, they only see their charges. You can set spending limit for AUs and they can make payments using their login. They do not see charges primary account holder made.

Wow, this is eye opening in a rather frightful way. DW has her own Chase log in, so I guess we will explore whether she sees the AU card once issued. I'm not at all concerned about the charges in this case, since we are married, but I'm scratching my head how anyone would want a non-family member, someone who is only a friend, to be AU.

She won't be able to see them automatically. You can ask a CSR but I don't think it's possible.

As for AmEx two data points, one which I learned today. Referred DW to a Green card and she's already an AU on my Gold and Platinum. For that, her card is visible on the same login as the AU cards. Surprised me as I have an AU card on my company's BRG and it's separate from my dedicated personal login.

What I do know on that company account is while I don't see transactions by anyone else I DO see for seemingly about 24 hours the pending payment for the account every month. Not sure if that happens for personal AUs too but I'll check next time my Gold statement closes and I submit a payment. Anyhow if you don't want people in that particular part of your personal business something to keep in mind with AmEx.

Re: How do you handle your Authorized Users?

Remedios — Sun, 31 Oct 2021 15:44:27 GMT

@CreditInspired wrote:
@stonedog23 wrote:
The OP asks how do you handle AUs since most are from outside the household. That struck me as strange because I probably would never have an AU from outside the household.
My thoughts exactly!

But, that isn't what OP asked. This is the paragraph from first post

What is your experience with Authorized Users, since often these seem to be outside the household? Are different banks handling the tracking of AU charges differently?

Plenty of people have AUs outside of household such as patients, siblings, children etc where finances are kept separate or relatively separate.

If finances are separate, primary account holder and AU need to have a way of accessing charges to be able to distinguish who needs to pay what without it being intrusive to either one.

One can have an AU they trust but they may not be willing to let them see and examine every pack of gum one bought.

Additionally, some people keep their finances separate, which really isn't that different from "outside of household" hence the question.

It's always a good idea to ask before jumping into something new, and since this is their first AU, these are good question to ask if/when adding.