Risks of adding someone as an authorized user on a credit card
Adding an authorized user gives them the ability to call the card issuer, claim a lost card, and have a replacement sent directly to their own address. This vulnerability can lead to unauthorized account control and unexpected financial exposure if the person misuses their access.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Setting spending limits to zero or a minimal amount like one dollar
- 2Choosing credit card issuers that allow strict spending limit controls for authorized users
- 3Locking down card creation permissions and requiring finance oversight for expense approvals.
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Not saying she would, but the potential downside would be that she calls the credit card company, says she lost the card, updates her address and they send her a new one directly. She’s authorized.”source ↗
“I’m going to leave contacts and address to be my own, are there any potential downsides to this?”source ↗
“Lock down card creation permissions immediately until you fix your approval hierarchy. Letting department leads self approve expenses without finance oversight is an immediate recipe for complete disaster and audit flags.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 2Why do privileged Salesforce users have to create separate passkeys?
- 2How to secure vendor emails on personal devices without MDM