A great thing happens once your kid turns 13 — unfortunately, it’s not that they suddenly start proactively cleaning up their room or waking up to their own alarm clock every single day. But, on the bright side, they are now old enough to be an authorized user on your American Express cards.
Here’s why I added my teen as an authorized user on one of my American Express cards and some things to consider if you’re also considering adding an authorized user, such as potential bonus points.
Bonus points for a new card
If I’m being honest, there wasn’t one reason that now was the time to add my teen to my Amex Gold account; there were 10,000 reasons.
Cardmembers are often targeted for bonus American Express Membership Rewards points for adding authorized users to certain accounts once that user spends a certain amount within a defined time frame.
On my American Express® Gold Card, there was an offer for 10,000 bonus Membership Rewards points if I added an authorized user who spent $2,000 on the card in the first six months. Based on my own patterns of redeeming points and TPG’s September 2024 valuations, that’s around $200 worth of points that I’ll happily add to my stash.
(My kid is using their authorized user card to pay the monthly electric bill to go along with their everyday purchases to ensure we hit the amount of $2,000 in six months to trigger the bonus points.)
You can check this link to see if there is an offer for your Amex Gold Card account — or, when logged in to your Amex account, navigate to your targeted Amex Offers at the bottom of the screen to see if there are any special offers for your account listed there, too.
Related: Best ways to redeem Amex Membership Rewards points
No fee and bonus points on spending
The most common purchase my teen has put on my Amex Gold since they got it is, not surprisingly, food. There’s a Taco Bell right next to their high school, and let’s just say that business is booming with the teens and the Crunchwrap Supremes.
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There’s no additional fee to add up to five authorized users on the Amex Gold account, so it’s an easy decision on that front.
This card is a perfect match for a teen since you’ll earn 4 points per dollar spent on dining at restaurants, on up to $50,000 per year. Even at the rate I’m seeing taco transactions rack up on my card, we’ll still be safely well below that threshold for bonus points on dining each year.
Teen-friendly statement credits
It’s also worth mentioning that this card underwent a refresh in July and now offers $84 in annual Dunkin’ credits (broken up into a dozen up-to-$7 monthly credits). Enrollment is required. And I can assure you that teens like the fun iced drinks at Dunkin’ just as much as tacos and burritos.
The card also offers up to $10 in monthly dining statement credits when used at select dining partners, such as Five Guys, which is also perfect for this demographic. Enrollment is required.
Limited-edition card design
OK, this one is sort of silly, but if you ask me, life’s too short not to enjoy a pretty card.
I’m fond of my Amex Gold in the rose gold option, but adding an authorized user right now was a great opportunity for them to get in on the limited-edition white gold option. You can make your color selection when you request the card.
If you’ve been looking to see these color options compared to each other in real life, here is the white gold color compared to the rose gold and the traditional color of The Platinum Card® from American Express.
Building credit for my teen
On a more substantive level than choosing between shades of gold, adding my kid as an authorized user on my account now also gives them a head start in building their credit.
If you don’t have an Amex card or want to add your kid to a card account before they turn 13, you can absolutely do that with some other issuers. For example, Chase has no specific age requirement to be an authorized user. I did have to provide their Social Security number for American Express, which makes sense since I want this to make it onto my kid’s credit report.
Related: Adding kids as authorized users to your credit cards
Potential pitfalls
Stating the obvious first: Even if your teen and you have worked out some sort of payment agreement, you’re ultimately still responsible for all of the charges put on your credit account.
So, if you don’t yet fully trust them to make good choices with purchases, it may not be the right time for this next step. That said, you can add a spending limit so that purchases can’t accidentally spin too far out of control.
Additionally, while your good and responsible credit and account use can help your child’s credit score, the opposite may happen if you get behind on your account. If that were to happen, you’d want to remove your child as an authorized user.
Here are some additional things to consider when adding a child as an authorized user to your credit card accounts.
Bottom line
The 10,000 bonus Amex Membership Rewards points after hitting the spending requirements and no additional annual fee to add an authorized user to my Amex Gold account would have probably been reason enough for me to add my 14-year-old.
But, as it turns out, this card is actually a pretty good choice for my teen to really have and use now that they are spending a bit more time away from being within arm’s reach of my wallet.
Related reading:
For rates and fees of the Amex Gold, click here.
