What is an Affinity Credit Card?

Affinity credit cards are the fastest growing segment of the credit card market. An affinity credit card is just like a standard credit card – with one important difference. Every time you use it, you're making a donation to your favorite charity. By making an affinity card your major credit card, you can help make substantial donations to worthwhile charities just by using your credit card as you normally would.

Most people are familiar with the idea behind credit cards rewards programs. In order to convince buyers to use their credit cards to pay for purchases instead of cash, many credit card companies offer cards with built-in rewards. Those rewards may be cash back, or free miles with airlines, or discounts at the petrol station. When you choose an affinity card, the reward is in the form of a donation to the charity represented on the face of the card.

Affinity credit cards have been around since the mid-1980s, but they've only recently begun to become popular in the UK. By 1999, a major research firm in the UK reported that there were over 1500 different kinds of affinity cards currently in issue throughout the UK. Affinity card spending in that year topped 4.43 million pounds. At the usual rate of contribution (.25% of each transaction), that means that affinity credit card transactions were responsible for 1.1 million pounds donated to various charities.

When it comes to credit cards UK consumers have the choice of supporting cancer research, their local football club, a children's charity or just about any other sort of charity imaginable. Most affinity credit cards don't offer special rewards aside from the knowledge that you're supporting a worthy cause – but there are some exceptions. One affinity credit card linked to Christian Aid, for example, offers no balance transfer fee and 1.9% introductory interest rate on new purchases for six months.

Based on their use of affinity credit cards UK consumers are a goodhearted lot. According to one market survey completed in 2001, nearly 1 of every 4 adults in the UK carries an affinity card. That's a lot of charity going around – and why not? Using an affinity card lets people support their pet charities painlessly – without it costing them a single penny.

While charity cards are the most popular affinity cards, there are many other types of affinity credit cards as well. The labour unions were the first in the UK to offer their own affinity cards, co-branded with major national banks. Football clubs around the UK have partnered with banks so that you can choose a credit card that displays the logo of your favorite football club. You can choose an affinity credit card that will donate a portion of your purchases to your political affiliation, or support the local theater. More and more banks and financial institutions are making it easy for non-profit agencies to partner with them and offer an affinity card bearing their logo.

At www.moneyeverything.com/affinitycards you'll find the best credit card UK deals, including affinity cards for various charities and causes that are near to your heart.