affinity card

affinity card (plural affinity cards)

1. (finance) A credit card made available by a bank or other lender to qualified people associated with a sponsoring organization (such as a club, educational institution, charity, or business), typically with provision for a portion of the lender's interest income to be paid to the sponsor and sometimes providing special benefits (such as reduced fees) for the users.
   • 1987 Nov. 29, Diane Cole, "What's New in Fund-Raising: Using Plastic to Rev Up Revenues," New York Times (retrieved 29 Oct 2013):

     Typically, an affinity card holder should produce between $8 and $12 per year to the affinity group," said George Hanold, president of Alliance Marketing, a company that sets up agreements between banks and groups.

   • 2001 June 24, Janice Castro, "Financial Services: Charge It Your Way," Time (retrieved 29 Oct 2013):

     [I]ssuers of credit cards . . . began years ago with such offerings as travel discounts and so-called affinity cards, which feature the logos of sports teams or donate a portion of every charge to charity.

   • 2010 June 7, Rob Varnon, "Bank pays millions to Yale to market its credit cards," newstimes.com (retrieved 29 Oct 2013):

     In August of 2007, Yale University signed a seven-year deal with Chase Bank, worth a guaranteed $7.98 million, to sell access to alumni, staff, sports fans and potentially students for the bank's credit cards. . . . Yale's contract provides the university with many controls over to whom and when the affinity card can be marketed.

• credit card

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