Affinity credit cards are one of the most widely used type of plastic we hold nowadays. This is more important because the craze for balance transfer deals and associated things goes on decreasing. Initially, the focus was on saving money by transferring credit card debt, but today it has shifted to making profit from using the card, or at least to derive certain benefit from our regular spending habits. This shift in focus has caused a massive growth in the number of rewards and cash back cards available in the market. The question is: what is the status of affinity cards?
In simple terms, an affinity card is a card that links the cardholder with a certain company, organization, or area of interest. The card will normally have a picture to denote this association. It will also provide some benefit connected with the affinity subject. A good example is an affinity card for a certain clothing store. If you shop a lot at this particular store, and use your credit card associated with this store, then you can get benefits like discounts, gift vouchers etc.
This is an example of where affinity cards and rewards cards fuse and overlap. However the affinity card will offer more focused reward scheme than the regular card.
Another variety of affinity card that has become popular nowadays is a charity credit card. These cards can be regarded as variations of cashback credit cards, in which a small portion of all your expenses on the card is refunded. However with this card, instead of the cashback being credited to your account or given to you as a check, it is normally donated to the charity or charities associated with the card. The most popular are animal charities and health research charities, but the range is vast and you are certain to get a charity card supporting a non-profit of your choice.
Closely associated with charity cards are sports affinity cards. They work a lot in the same way, but instead of giving donations to charitable organizations, they give it to your favorite sports team. Holding this type of card allows you to provide financial support to your team, and at the same time asserting your support by inscribing your team’s logo or badge on the card.
The last type of affinity card can be called a lifestyle card, and instead of offering you direct rewards or supporting your favorite organization, they are just commonplace credit cards that pictorially show your interest or hobby like an artwork or your favorite sport. For obvious reasons, these cards are not highly popular nowadays, since there are other cards offering more useful benefits.
So is it worth using affinity cards? In general, they don’t provide such a wide range of features as major credit card, but if you can manage to get one that closely matches your lifestyle, then they can be quite beneficial and worth applying for.