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Bilt Opens Up Authorized Users to Teens, With Full Parental Controls
July 1, 2025
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Bilt has expanded its authorized user program to allow teens as young as 13 to carry a Bilt Card, with a full set of parental controls layered on top. The feature is rolling out first to members of Bilt's Close Friends program, with a broader rollout expected later in 2026.
What Parents Can Control
- Set monthly and per-transaction spending limits
- Restrict which merchant categories the card works at (groceries fine, liquor stores blocked)
- See every purchase in real time
How the Points Work
Every authorized user, including teens, gets their own physical card number rather than sharing the primary cardholder's number. Spending from all authorized users earns into the same shared Bilt Points balance as the primary account, so a teen's everyday spending still contributes to the household's overall rewards.
Multiple authorized users on one card means multiple people's purchases all funneling into the same rewards balance. Kudos keeps track of what every card in the household has actually earned, so nothing gets lost in the shuffle.
Building Credit Early
Adult authorized users (18+) will be able to build credit history through their Bilt Card activity later in 2026. For teens added at 13, credit reporting doesn't start until they turn 18 — meaning a teen added early effectively gets a multi-year head start the moment they become an adult, without any risk of their own spending mistakes as a minor showing up on a credit file.
How This Compares to Other Cards
Most co-brand and bank-issued cards restrict authorized users to 16 or 18, and few offer real-time parental spending controls at the level Bilt is describing here — per-transaction limits and merchant-category blocking, not just a shared card number. That combination of a much lower minimum age and granular controls is what sets this rollout apart, rather than the authorized-user concept itself, which most major issuers already offer in some form.
The Catch: It’s Not Available to Everyone Yet
This is currently limited to Bilt's Close Friends program members, not all Bilt cardholders. If you're not in that program, you'll need to wait for the broader 2026 rollout Bilt has said is coming before you can add a young teen as an authorized user with these controls.
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