How to Share a Credit Card With a Family Member in Another Country

Sharing a credit card can be tricky, especially if you don’t have much credit history. It can also get out of hand very quickly if your family members are spending more than can be paid back. Credit card debt can build very quickly!

The Pomelo card helps keep sharing a line of credit with family in check. With no fees and a spending limit that you control, you can be sure to still be able to support your family and not dig a financial hole for yourself. Learn more below.

By Team Pomelo September 13, 2021  •  7 min read
Share Pomelo with Family

Shared family credit cards are becoming more and more popular, especially if you send money to friends and family overseas. Money transfer services can be expensive and more time-consuming to use. If you’re looking for ways to send money internationally, a Pomelo card is one of the best options. Learn how shared credit cards work and why they are a better option for international transfers, even if you don’t have any credit history to start with.

Challenges of Traditional Money Transfer Services Overseas

Historically, sending international money transfers has been a tedious process, littered with extra costs at every turn.

Let’s say you were looking to make a money transfer to the Philippines. Your options are:

  1. Go to your bank and withdraw money to send a wire transfer.
  2. Make a transfer directly from your bank through a middleman company.

This middleman company will need to convert the currency and complete the international transfer for you. Either way, it might come with a sizable fee to send the money along with a lot of extra steps.

If there’s an emergency and you need to send money quickly, these additional steps will slow the process down. Also, keep in mind that depending on the country, some payment apps that allow instant money transfers may not be available where your relatives live.

Sending money overseas is not impossible, but as you can see, it’s been an outdated process that has not provided the best experience for the sender or the recipient.

This is why a shared credit card account can be extremely helpful. It eliminates the middleman and simplifies the overall process.

Do You Need Credit History to Get a Credit Card For Shared Spending?

A credit card will give you a line of credit that you can borrow against to pay back later with interest. Some cards even offer rewards and no foreign transaction fees which makes it easier to spend money overseas.

In order to qualify for a credit card, you normally will need to have some credit history to show that you’ve made on-time payments in the past.

However, with Pomelo, you have the option to:

  1. use your credit score to obtain a credit card or
  2. have a cash balance in a bank account that would cover your credit (secured credit card)

Secured credit cards allow you to make an initial deposit of a few hundred dollars to borrow against.

Pomelo was created as a solution to help people who are wondering how to gain credit on one end, while also looking for the best way to support their family internationally.

Challenges of Using a Traditional Credit Card to Send Money Overseas

Pomelo solves many of the problems of traditional credit cards. Traditional credit cards are great for personal use and building credit. However, they aren’t always the best option for sending money overseas. Yes, you can get a traditional credit card and request an additional card for an authorized user who lives in another country. But the card issuer might charge an annual fee to do this.

Also, keep in mind that some cards have a foreign transaction fee which means if you use the card outside the US, you’ll be charged anywhere from 1% to 3% of the purchase price each time.

In addition, your authorized user will have access to your full credit limit, and you are solely responsible for paying the bill.

There might not be any way to limit how much the cardholder spends each month and if you are unable to pay the bill in full, carrying a high balance each month will hurt your credit score, not to mention putting added stress on you and your finances.

Pomelo does not have any of these issues.

How Pomelo Makes it Easy to Share a Credit Card With Family Overseas

Pomelo is a one-of-a-kind money transfer app and credit card geared to users looking to send money internationally. First, you’ll apply for the card online.

Once you are approved, you can invite your family living overseas to accept their own virtual or physical card from Pomelo.

From there, your family will be able to use the card to spend money wherever Mastercard is accepted. At the end of the month, you’ll pay the bill and build your credit in the process.

With a Pomelo card, you won’t have to worry about sending your loved ones money bit-by-bit, filling out forms, and paying all the extra fees that come with the process.

5 Key Benefits of Sharing a Pomelo Card With Your Family

1. Instant Access to Funds

Since Pomelo is a shared card, the biggest benefit is that your loved ones will have instant access to funds. This will come in handy if there’s an emergency or unexpected expense.

The other cardholder will also be able to shop online (wherever Mastercard is accepted) and not have to worry about carrying cash around or converting money.

2. Build Credit

A Pomelo card is just like a regular credit card, given that it helps you build your credit history and improve your credit score.

One key difference is that Pomelo is a charge card, meaning you’ll need to pay off the balance in full each month.

While you can obtain a monthly credit limit, you need to make sure you can afford to pay whatever is spent on the card back at the end of each monthly billing cycle. You can request for a larger limit over time.

Your monthly card payments will get reported to the three major credit bureaus so you can start or continue building positive payment history.

3. Don’t Pay Money to Send Money

Sending money internationally is not expensive when you have a Pomelo card. Traditional money transfer services can charge you up to 7% in fees.

Pomelo is paid by the merchant, so you won’t incur any fees like foreign transaction costs on your end. Since you technically aren’t sending money and are using a shared credit card instead, there is nothing additional to pay for.

4. Maintain your budget

Sharing a credit card with family members overseas might seem risky if you don’t have much control over how much is spent. Since you’re the primary cardholder, you are solely responsible for paying the bill each month.

Once you are approved, you can invite your family living overseas to accept their own virtual or physical card from Pomelo.

With Pomelo, you can actually track spending on the mobile app and restrict monthly spend limits for each family member. This will help you stick with an existing budget you might have.

If you normally send $500 to family each month, you can just set this as the limit for how much someone can spend, and you won’t have to worry about them exceeding this amount.

5. Pause at Any Time

Another perk of using a Pomelo card is that you don’t have to actively use the card each month.

If you’re not sending money regularly, you can pause the card and only resume Pomelo whenever you’re ready.

A Better Way to Send Money While Building Your Credit

Pomelo takes a fresh and modern approach when it comes to sending money overseas.

As an added bonus, you can use the card to build your credit score as a U.S. citizen. By cutting out the middleman, you won’t incur any fees while getting funds to your family in another country quickly.

Whether you’re looking to send money regularly, or would like to send funds occasionally as a gift, Pomelo is a great option to have on hand.

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Read next: How Pomelo Compares to Remittance Companies

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