Well, this was a secondary card, so no foul, right?

There are many other examples of new accounts that have been granted to pets and to toddlers. That's where the problem is.

You know, these problems would go away if banks couldn't write off bad debt against their taxes...

Hi Chris!

Why would you propose banks not being able to write bad debts against their taxes?

And, to be fair, what is the problem you are aiming to solve?

(Most all businesses write bad debts "against their taxes" because they are not collectable and therefore are losses which is subtracted from income.)

Who is to blame?

Perhaps I need to think twice, but my immediate first response is:

[ x ] Nobody

From time to time a credit card is issued to a pet and it makes the news (perhaps because it's an appealing human-interest story), but in this case what's the big deal? The primary cardholder assumes full responsibility for charges on the secondary card, so she could just as well have one issued to her pet rock. Also on her own card she's free to have any name she wants embossed on it (including her cat's), which doesn't seem too different.