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Signup bonuses are a crucial part of the points and miles puzzle, but they’re not the only way of banking a substantial balance of rewards points. Other methods include signing up to regular promotions offered by credit card providers and loyalty programs, taking advantage of generous referral bonuses which can bring in upwards of 50K points per year, and on select credit cards, scoring bonus points for adding an authorized user to your account.
Credit cards offering bonus points for authorized users typically require the cardholder to complete a purchase to qualify for the bonus points. But compare that to credit cards charging an annual fee for authorized user accounts, and the additional spend required to justify that yearly expense, and you begin to see why those easy points add so much value to these cards.
Cards Offering Bonus Points to Add an Authorized User
There are no longer many cards offering authorized user bonuses, with most card issuers either not offering a bonus at all, or only adding AU bonuses during promo events.
| Credit Card | AU Bonus Points & Conditions |
|---|---|
| Virgin Atlantic® World Elite MasterCard® | Up to 5,000 bonus miles when you add additional cardholders to your account (2,500 miles each for 2 AU's) |
Amex doesn’t offer an authorized user bonus as standard practice, but they do provide the occasional promo gifting bonus points when you add one or more authorized users. Another thing to consider before adding an authorized user is whether they receive the same benefits as the primary cardholder. If you pay the additional $175 fee for up to three authorized users ($175 total, not per AU) on The Platinum Card® from American Express (Rates & Fees), the AU cardholders receive lounge access and other benefits, and every dollar they spend earns you more points!
Benefits of Adding an Authorized User
The benefits of adding an authorized user aren’t just restricted to bonus points.
- Card perks pass on to authorized users – It’s rare for all a card’s benefits to pass onto authorized user accounts, but AU’s on cards like the Ritz-Carlton Card and Amex Platinum gain lounge access perks, and Amex Platinum AU’s get the same elite status privileges as the primary cardholder. While you’ll pay a $175 fee for up to 3 AU’s on your Amex Platinum account, the Ritz-Carlton Card charges nothing on AU accounts.
- Earn more points – If you have more than one card spending from the same account, purchases made by the additional cardholder earns points for your account. If you have more than one family member added as an AU, you can ensure all household spending is earning points for your account. The downside to this? You’re responsible for paying back everything the household spends…
- Allows you to transfer points to AU’s – The major banks have tightened guidelines on transferring points to other accounts, but by adding an authorized user, you can sometimes sidestep the tighter restrictions. For example, it’s possible to move Amex Membership Rewards to someone else's frequent flyer account, but only if that person is an authorized user on your Membership Rewards earning card.
- Helps meet minimum spend and status bonuses – Adding an authorized user can help you meet the minimum spend on new cards sooner with more than one person charging to the account. It can also help you achieve some of the harder to reach elite status bonuses like the Platinum Elite Status bonus on the Ritz-Carlton Card, which requires $75K in purchases charged to the card to attain Platinum and keep it for the next year. Remember, Ritz-Carlton Platinum = Marriott Platinum
- Boost AU cardholders' credit score – If someone close to you is just starting out on their credit journey, you can add them as an authorized user, and they’ll get a kickback from your higher credit score and the length of your credit history.
- Purchase & travel protections extend to AU accounts – The majority of rewards cards extend the extensive purchase and travel protections offered with the card to authorized users, provide a cost-effective way of covering family members and those close to you.
It should go without saying, but we’ll say it anyway. You are responsible for any charges incurred by authorized users, and their actions can potentially impact your credit score. Only sign up an authorized user if you have complete faith and trust in the person.
Myth about Adding an Authorized User
- Authorized users cannot get the same card themselves as a primary cardmember and receive any associated bonus. This is 100% false. Being an authorized user on someone else's card account does not preclude you from receiving a bonus on your own account for which you separately applied. So, if you're added as an authorized user on the United℠ Explorer Card account of someone else, that does not preclude you from applying for a card account on your own and receiving the current signup bonus.
There are some other myths out there, but this is by far the biggest misconception.
Final Thoughts
Adding an authorized user account is a fast and easy way of collecting some extra points or miles outside of earning the signup bonus. In addition to the extra points, AU’s offer a way of sidestepping the more onerous transfer restrictions, and allow you to rack up points that much faster on route to your next dream holiday.
If we’ve missed any cards off the list, or a benefit of adding an authorized user account, please reach out in the comments.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: The Platinum Card® from American Express (Rates & Fees)
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
do they ask for an SSN when applying for an authorized user?
It depends on the card issuer. Amex does.
I have the IHG card but more than 3 months have passed since I got it. I wish I’d known about it sooner. I’ll just have to monitor benefits more closely. Thanks for the alert.
So if I converted a Chase Sapphire to a Chase Freedom to avoid the annual fee, and received no bonus points for the conversion, can I still get the AU bonus within 3 months of the conversion?
No.
But are there any add user bonuses if the card has been open for more than 3 months?
Not unless someone runs a promotion.
Got it. As you also describe above, that clears up the confusion: these are “ongoing offers”, but only in relation to the opening of a new line of credit.
good summary of the cards.
Easy peasy low hanging fruit!
A good reminder. I always forget about these free miles
Good info, and something to keep an eye out for. Seems to me though that it’s been quite some time since Chase has run one of these LTO’s offering bonus points for adding AU’s, no?
These are standard offerings — not LTOs or other promos.
Really? Is there a landing page for them that spells out the terms? I didn’t see any mention of these offers when looking at the ‘add AU’ tab for any of my Chase cards which appear on this list.
You’ll see the terms on any of the card details page right before you click an apply now link.
Yes, I was aware of that that these offers were aware at the time of primary application. However, when you mentioned ongoing, I took it as meaning subsequent-to-application, so I would have hoped to see the terms reiterated on the ‘add AU’ page.
In any event, if one elects not to add an AU at the time of application, but wishes to add an AU, say, 8 months later, adding that AU will still earn the bonus?
As long as you add and meet the requirement within the first 3 months of card membership it works — but past that initial 3 month period of being a new cardmember, you wouldn’t get an AU bonus — so 8 months after, you would not.
Don’t forget that when you add authorized users you are responsible for charges they make. Add wisely!
I’ve found this works really well! The only thing is you better trust that other person because your credit is on the line when they spend.
Nice compilation, thanks for the post!
This is awesome news! I’ll have to look into my cards. I just got an email for my AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard to get 3k bonus when I added a autho user! So I did and got an email confirming it. So now I’m just waiting. Very excited about seeing it in my account, once it goes in!
I added my wife to my Marriott cards.
Thanks. I’ve been wondering if there were other ‘family sharing’; options like Jet Blue has, and I see your information about moving AMEX Membership rewards points to an authorized users frequent flyer account.
not a good strategy when they are counted under 5/24 rule. headache to call and justify. why bother.
Another great and useful compilation. Thanks!
Great consolidated summary on this. This post should come in handy.
Good info, thanks for sharing. We’ll definitely keep this in mind next time we open a new account and before adding AUs.
There may also be perks for the authorized users themselves. I have the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card with Admirals Club access. Authorized users are free and they also get Club access, even when they are not traveling with me. Being able to give Club access to the whole family makes the annual fee much more palatable.
Absolutely; we’ll be covering these types of benefits as well. The Citi Exec, Ritz and Amex Platinum are three of our favorites for this reason. While the Amex Plat authorized users aren’t free, it’s still a sweet deal.
Wow, a lot of bonus points out there if you know how to get them!
Great info,looks my extended family are now all members!
This is quite value to me, I didn’t know that:
Boost AU cardholders’ credit score – If someone close to you is just starting out on their credit journey, you can add them as an authorized user, and they’ll get a kickback from your higher credit score and the length of your credit history.
Does American Air Master Card offer an added authorized user bonus?
No. The AAdvantage® Aviator™ Red World Elite Mastercard® does not offer a bonus for authorized users.
I just added myself to my wife’s new IHG account That replenishes the 5K points I used for a point saver stay. Thanks for the reminder.
Great tips! Love coming to the comments and seeing all my questions already answered!
Nice to have these options to add more bonus points.
I had a pop up offer to upgrade my UA card for 3k miles the other day. Not enough for the higher annual fee.
Thanks for dispelling these myths
I love when adding authorized users net bonus miles. Such an easy way to add miles.
Does this effect 5/24 for the added authorized user?
Yes, it does. However, there have been many data points where after a discussion with a credit analyst, they’re willing to take the cards out of the count in making a decision as authorized users aren’t ultimately responsible for the card.
I never knew that I could get points for another user. Great article!
I forgot about this for my IHG card from Chase. I will need to add a second user to get the bonus points.
Thanks
It’s a shame they all require spending in the first 3 months, while all of my cards on this list are much older than that.
Unfortunately I don’t have sufficient family members for this.
If you have one…I’ve found benefit with just my mother a my only relative.
Does the authorized user get their credit history pulled/get impact to their credit history?
Authorized users do not have a hard credit pull when added. As for impact: https://awardwallet.com/blog/the-impact-of-being-an-authorized-user-on-a-credit-card-account/
This is a great post. Who would’ve thought that adding authorized users would give a nice bonus?
Great summary of all the offers!
but does adding one count against chase’s 5/24 rule? I’ve heard it does, which stinks.
While it does, in many cases people have reported that after having a brief discussion these cards have been able to be taken out of the count.
Yes – 5/24 headache
what is chase’s 5/24 rule?
Details here: https://awardwallet.com/blog/chase-524-policy-work/
good summary of options with these cards