Credit Card Affiliate Programs

Credit Card Affiliate Programs: Introduction

Because of the high commissions available for credit card affiliate offers it is also one of the most competitive markets. You shouldn’t necessarily be put off by this however, the potential rewards could be quite significant as you will see below.

In 2018 there were $3.8 billion of transactions in the US alone over the four major networks (Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover). In total There were 41 million transactions.

There seem to be a lot of other blog posts out there which claim to be about Credit card affiliate programs. When you actually read the post they include credit reference or credit scoring programs which aren’t relevant. Below you will find either direct credit card offers or networks that give you access to them.

Hopefully Google knows the difference between a credit card and a credit score!

Credit Card Affiliate Programs: Available Programs

American Express Canada Affiliate Program

The program is run by CJ.com and offers the potential for up to CA$200 per lead. Payouts are only made on successful applications of course but the commission rate on offer is sufficiently sweet to offset that.

At the moment this would appear to be quite a profitable program for affiliates as the 7-day EPC is CAD$523.88. In order for you to receive the highest commission level the applicant would need to successfully open an aero plan reserve card. Other cards are paying between CAD$100 and CAD$150.

The cookie length is only seven days which is not ideal but obviously that is set against the high level of commission. It would appear that American Express Canada is currently offering the highest levels of commission in their group. American Express are trying to make inroads into the Canadian market.

If you promote the US version of Amex then you are looking at around $100 per sign up.

Avianca LifeMiles Credit Card Affiliate Program

A more niche offering given where they fly to (South America). With up to $200 Commission for successful applicants even a small amount of traffic would quickly add up to a tidy side income. You also have the relative benefit of a generous 30-day cookie.

As with most air miles cards the user accumulates points when they make purchases with the card. The points can be converted into discounts on flights with Avianca.

If you can manage to target the right audience then this would be a useful addition to your monetisation strategy.

Bankrate Credit Card Affiliate Program

Bankrate originally started out as a publication that recommended credit cards to its readers. Eventually it branched out to the point where it became a credit card issuer.

Probably the biggest advantage of the Bankrate program is the ability to offer a number of other big-name cards as a sub affiliate via Bankrate.

This can be an excellent way to access them. You may not necessarily qualify for the affiliate programs of some of the largest financial institutions on your own.

In addition you are able to offer the Bankrate card as well.

Capital Bank Affiliate Program

The Open Sky card provided by Capital Bank is actually a secured card. A secured card is one where collateral is required before the card is issued. Using a secured card, someone with a poor credit history could improve their FICO score (credit rating).

This card would be ideally suited to a blog that focuses on issues to do with managing debt or improving your credit rating.

It could also be useful for someone who has not previously had credit and therefore finds it difficult to obtain some of the more mainstream cards.

In fact, you do not actually need a credit score to obtain one of these cards.

From an affiliate perspective it is one of the lower paying programs since you would receive only $25 for a successful referral.

This program is run through CJ.com. The 7-day EPC for this program is much lower at only $33. Despite this it could prove to be a worthwhile program if you are looking at an audience who have a low credit rating which they are looking to improve.

Capital One Affiliate Program

While researching this article I noticed one or two posts had mentioned the capital one affiliate program. In reality this is just a referral program for friends and family. Since you also need to be a cardholder and you would be limited to a maximum of five commissions per annum.

There is an affiliate program that you can promote via an app that you create. This this is much more difficult than content marketing so you would need to hire a programmer or be able to create your own suitable app. To see more on this click here.

Caxton FX Affiliate Program

This one is a UK based program run on CJ.com and it would appear to be only a short-term program. For each successful applicant you could earn £36. Given that it is listed as being a short-term campaign you might be better avoiding this one if you don’t already have a lot of content in the credit card niche. It’s pointless building up a lot of new content to base on a short-term promotion.

Commission Soup Affiliate Program

Strictly speaking this is a network that offers many credit card affiliate offers. They offer a number of secured cards which you could promote to people with a poor credit rating who are looking to improve their FICO Score.

Credit.com Affiliate Program

Similar to Bankrate since they offer you access to the affiliate offers from big players in the industry. For example Chase, American Express, MasterCard and Citi. At the moment they are closed to new affiliates.

Definitely one to keep an eye on though, for when it reopens.

Creditcardbroker.com Affiliate Program

This would appear to be more of an advertising network for financial products. Not just a straightforward affiliate program. Some of the products payout per sale and some may payout per lead. There are some products which would have a residual income as well.

Note that if you do sign up with creditcardbroker you agree to take the advertising as an automated solution. You can’t pick and choose specific products to advertise on your site.

First Access Affiliate Program

This card is available to those with poor credit histories and probably as a consequence offers one of the lower commission rates at only $14.50. Should you wish to sign up you can do so at FlexOffers.

First Progress Platinum Affiliate Program

Also offered on the FlexOffers network. You may earn commission of up to $40 for a successful application.

Indigo Platinum MasterCard Affiliate Program

According to commission soup the applicant would need either a fair or good credit rating. This card wouldn’t necessarily be suitable if your content was targeting those with a poor credit score.

Milestone Gold Affiliate Program

Another opportunity available on FlexOffers this one will pay you up to $30 for an approved application This and you get a 30-day cookie duration. It is another card for applicants with less than perfect credit histories.

Discover Affiliate Program

This is one of the biggest cards in use in the US. Their main affiliate page seems to have been removed. From what I have been able to discover the only affiliate offer currently accessible is via a service called getlasso.co. You would earn a miserly eight dollars for a successful application.

Card Rating Affiliate Program

This site gives ratings on various credit cards in the marketplace. The consumer can search using a variety of filters to find the right card for them. They do offer an affiliate program although the commission is undisclosed as are any other details. Based on the nature of the application form it would suggest they are expecting you to promote credit cards. That is their main income strategy. The fact that they do not make any mention of what you will learn as an affiliate put me off somewhat.

Luxury Card Affiliate Program

This offers a whopping $405 per approved new customer. You can apply to the program through FlexOffers.

This particular card, as the name suggests, is targeting a wealthier clientele. You can even get a 24-carat gold version of the card (well its gold plated).

If you happen to have an audience of wealthy individuals then this could be the right card for them.

Petal Visa Card Affiliate Program

The Petal card affiliate program is run by Partnercentric and offers you a mere $15 commission with a 30-day referral period. Given the rates on offer elsewhere this is probably not going to be at the top of your list of cards to promote. It is one of the cards that isn’t purely based on your credit score however so it may be useful where your audience has little or no credit History.

Royal Bank of Scotland Affiliate Programs

Currently offering commissions of up to £100 on a variety of financial products including credit cards. It would appear that the promotions are for their NatWest brand rather than RBS itself. The program is run by OMG. A good option if you have visitors from the United Kingdom.

Sam’s Club Affiliate Program

Paying a respectable commission of $67.50 this is another card for those with impaired credit histories. It also allows the user of the card to earn up to 5% Cashback. To access this program go to FlexOffers.com.

ScotiaBank Affiliate Program

Scotia Bank has now been trading for almost 200 years and now operates in 55 countries. You can promote its credit card offering and receive CAD$99 for approved applications.

You can apply to promote their cards via Fintelconnect.

Upgrade Credit Card Affiliate Program

Offering a $60 bounty for each approved application, this program is run via FlexOffers. The benefit of this card to your audience would be 1.5% cashback on purchases. It also has a lower interest rate then you would traditionally find on many cards.

USAA Credit Cards Affiliate Program

These credit cards are targeted at current and former military personnel. The company also offers a range of financial services such as checking accounts, loans and mortgages.

The credit card offer is one of the lower paying programs offering only $20 for a successful application.

You do get a slightly longer cookie duration of 30 days.

Vanquis Affiliate Program

Vanquis is a UK-based credit card issuer specialising in cards for those with poorer credit histories. You can now sign up to be an affiliate of their program which is being run through OMG. They currently offer the user an eye watering 39.9% APR so ideally you would want to pay off your balance with this card.

ViaBuy Affiliate Program

Viabuy Offer a prepaid MasterCard so this is an ideal solution for those with no previous credit history. You will earn €25 For successful applications. It would appear that if you manage to refer 5 or more new accounts per month then that would increase to €50.

If you happen to have an audience based in India then there are a number of credit card affiliate programs that you could promote. Unfortunately the rates on offer are pretty low. Here is a list of some of those available.

AxisBank

It would appear you can receive 8% commission on any products that you manage to refer. I’m not sure how that would then translate to something like a credit card. I don’t think it likely that they would give you a percentage of the first years spend for example. Every other card issuer works on a one-off commission model.

Citibank

This one is more of a personal referral since you would need to have an account with Citibank. If you did then you would be receiving around $25 per referral.

ICICI

One of the largest banks in India, its credit card affiliate program is hardly going to set the world on fire. You will receive approximately $2 for a successful applicant.

RBL Bank

Successfully promoting the RBL bank Platinum Maxima card could earn you as much as $4.

Standard Chartered

A bank having a significant presence across Asia unfortunately its credit card offering is a little on the stingy side. At most you would receive five dollars per application and you may receive as little as $1.70.

Yes Bank

Again this one sounds more like a referral program rather than an affiliate program since you must be a holder of one of their credit cards. A further downside is that you receive your commissions as Amazon gift vouchers. On the plus side it does pay better than some of the other programs since you will earn roughly $13 per successful applicant.

How to Promote

Create a blog educating people on credit. You could then include articles on how to use credit cards wisely and recommend some appropriate products.

Create a blog specifically targeting people with poor credit histories. Write articles explaining how someone can monitor and improve their credit score. This would include signing up to some form of credit scoring website or app (affiliate details on this to follow in another article). You could then feature some of the cards that would be most applicable to those with a poor credit history. For example a secured card or a prepaid card.

You could come up with a generic travel blog and have a section on air miles cards. Show the best ways to utilise them to maximise the number of flights. You could niche down to a South American travel blog. Possibly even a more specific country. As part of that blog extol the virtues of the Avianca LifeMiles card.

To promote your blog, you could then look at some of the question-and-answer sites such as Quora. Find people looking for information on credit cards. You would provide an answer to their question and then link back to your blog. You should avoid being spammy obviously since this would lead to your account being closed. You need to actually answer the question rather than just inserting your link to your affiliate content.

Credit Card Affiliate Programs: Summary

There are quite a variety of different cards on offer which will suit different groups of people. If you are to successfully market these cards then you need to identify the best cards for your current audience. If you’re looking to build new content then you need to tailor the content to suit an audience that is likely to need the type of cards you are promoting.

If you are starting from scratch it is probably worth bearing in mind that a number of the programs will only accept sites with a significant volume of traffic. E.g. they are looking for the next Nerdwallet or Moneysavingexpert.

James