A Credit Card can be used only by the person whose name is printed on the card. This is a cardinal, if not very well-known, rule of the credit card industry.
Through my work in the credit card industry, I know that a credit card can’t be used even by other family members of the person to whom it’s issued i.e. it’s strictly non-transferable.
Against this backdrop, I was jolted out my seat when I read this question. I was wondering how the heck can a startup blatantly encourage a practice that’s explicitly forbidden by card networks.
So I visited the website of UseMyCards.
No, as far as I could see, UseMyCard does not violate the aforementioned credit card industry rule.
Contrary to what the question asserts, UseMyCard does not allow users to purchase products using someone else’s credit cards.
What it does allow is slightly, but critcally, different: It permits Person A to request Person B to order something against Person B’s Credit Card and have the product shipped to Person A. Now, that’s enabled by the dropship / gift feature supported by most ecommerce websites and, AFAIK, does not violate the aforementioned credit card industry rule.
I think the UseMyCards workflow is too tedious, timeconsuming and full of friction. It’s not worth my while just to save a few bucks. Personally, I don’t see myself ever using this website. But there could be a lot of time-rich people who might not mind navigating through the friction of UseMyCards to save money. For them, UseMyCards might provide a compelling value proposition. Accordingly, I’m quite bullish about this company’s future outlook.