Back to Add the Family Card Option

How Card Limits Work for Authorized Users with Family Card Option

The following are examples of how the Family Card Option could be set up and used.

Set Up

The primary and co-applicant (e.g. a husband and wife) have an RBC Royal Bank credit card with a credit limit of $5,000. They decide to add their two children to their account as authorized users with the Family Card Option with the following monthly card and monthly cash advance limits:

Table caption

Primary Cardholder — Father	Access to Credit Limit of $5000
Co-Applicant Cardholder — Mother	Access to Credit Limit of $5000
Authorized User 1 — University Student	Monthly Card Limit $20001 Monthly Cash Advance Limit $20002
Authorized User 2 — High School Student	Monthly Card Limit $500 Monthly Cash Advance Limit $200

¹ Must be less than the Credit Limit of $5000
² Must be less than or equal to the monthly card Limit of $2000

The monthly cash advance limit is part of the monthly card limit

If authorized user 2 takes out a cash advance on his/her credit card for $200, the amount available for him/her to spend on purchases for the rest of the month is now $300 ($500 minus $200), but he/she cannot perform any other cash transactions for the remainder of the month.

Each month, on the statement date of the account, the authorized users will have access to their monthly card limits and monthly cash advance limits

Authorized user 1 has spent $1000 on purchases and authorized user 2 has spent $200 on a cash advance during the month. At this point, authorized user 1 has $1,000 remaining that he/she can spend on either purchases or cash advances and authorized user 2 has $300 he/she can spend on purchases (see above for why he/she cannot make any more cash advances). When the account statement date is reached, authorized user 1 will have access again to his/her monthly card limit and monthly cash advance limit of $2000, and authorized user 2 will have access again to his/her monthly card limit of $500 and monthly cash advance limit of $200.

Note: Any unpaid balance will remain on the account. The account balance would be $1,200 ($1,000 + $200) if no payments were made for the month. If the amount of credit available on the account is less than their monthly limits, the authorized users will not be able to access their full limits until payments are made to the account.

The amount any cardholder can spend must always be equal to or less than the amount available on the account

The account credit limit is shared between all cardholders on the account. If the primary and co-applicant have spent $4,000 of the account credit limit (the account credit limit is $5,000), and the authorized users have not made any purchases or cash advances, authorized user 1 will only be able to make up to $1,000 in purchases or cash advances, while authorized user 2 will be able to access his/her full monthly card and monthly cash advance limits, since they are less then the $1,000 available credit remaining on the account. If authorized user 1 now makes a purchase for $750, he/she will have $250 of their monthly card and monthly cash advance limits available, while authorized user 2 will be able to access only $250 his/her full monthly card limit or $200 of his/her monthly cash advance limits. The primary and co-applicant will also only have access to $250 for purchases and cash transactions, since the amount available on the account is now $250 ($5,000-$4,000-$750).

How to provide additional spending to an authorized user

There are two ways to increase the amount an authorized user can spend in one month:

• The primary or co-Applicant can change the monthly card limit and/or monthly cash advance limits on authorized user cards at any time. This can be done through RBC Royal Bank Online Banking, by calling 1-800-769-2512 or by visiting any RBC Royal Bank branch.
• Payments can be made to authorized user accounts as follows:
• RBC Banking Clients – through RBC Royal Bank Online Banking as a transfer at an RBC Royal Bank ATM machine or by visiting any RBC Royal Bank branch.
• Non RBC Banking Clients – by setting up each authorized user account as a payee and making a bill payment through online banking, telephone banking, at an ATM or a your branch.