In this article, we will be discussing the best credit card affiliate programs through which you can earn high affiliate commissions. Not only will I touch on each program, but I will also let you in on the things you need to know to succeed in this niche.
Before we get deep into it, let’s talk about the basics.
What Is a Credit Card Affiliate Program?
A credit card affiliate program is an affiliate program that pays you a commission each time you send the company a prospective credit card user who fills out their form, signs up for a card, and sometimes even actually uses the credit card.
Different credit card companies have different ways in which they structure their affiliate programs.
But whatever the case may be, credit card affiliate programs have been recorded to pay higher commissions than any other niche in the affiliate marketing industry.
The pros of credit card affiliate programs
The commissions are very high
When you compare the commission rates of credit card affiliate programs to those of other niches of affiliate marketing, the difference in the commission rates is quite astounding; hence this is an excellent source of motivation.
Commissions per new client you send a credit card company could be as high as $250, and sometimes more.
Some credit card affiliate programs even pay you a reasonable sum for just sending them a would-be client who only fills out the sign-up form.
This is an evergreen niche
Even though the idea of borrowing cash and not being able to pay back is something we are all mighty terrified of, tons of people still take out credit card loans every day.
Most of these people do not just go in blindly into taking out one of these loans, hence if you can convince them that your affiliate credit card company is the best for their current credit card needs, that means you would be able to keep the commissions rolling in.
The individualization of credit cards in affiliate programs makes it easier to promote
With credit card affiliate programs, you aren’t promoting credit card companies.
I.e. You are not promoting MasterCard, visa, and the like; instead, you would be promoting individual credit cards that offer specific benefits to its users.
A great example of these credit cards is credit cards for bad credit.
Because there are hundreds of these credit cards offering immense value, it would be way easier to promote them, as there is already a waiting pool of customers for them.
Excellent support
When you find a good credit card affiliate program, you will find out that they don’t just ask you to sign up for the program and leave you to weather the storm alone.
A good credit card affiliate program offers excellent support, materials, and tools to help you better promote their program, for higher conversion.
The Cons of Credit Card Affiliate Programs
You might have to pay a fee
Some credit card affiliate programs would require you to pay a small amount as a sign-up fee, and paying a fee to join an affiliate program just doesn’t sit well with most people, including myself.
I mean, why do I have to pay you money to help you make more money? See where I’m going with this?
You might feel out of place
Though this niche isn’t limited to just financial experts, some people have been known to feel out of place promoting financial products.
Some people usually start out thinking hey, it’s just a credit card I’m promoting yeah?
But when it comes to creating promotional content for the product, they just feel lost.
This is usually because they do not have any real passion for this affiliate marketing niche and only signed up for the affiliate program because of the high commission rates.
Also, when creating promotional content for a financial affiliate product, you might not be fluent and fluid enough with the financial lingo, which helps you adequately intimate your audience on the value of the credit card you are trying to get them to sign up for.
This lack of seamless communication could lead to lower conversions.
It Might not pair well with your current content
If you are already an affiliate marketer with a niche blog where you promote other kinds of affiliate products or a specific one, promoting credit card offers to your audience might come off as a little off-topic or even weird.
It is not impossible to be able to work around it and get your credit card affiliate program promotions to fit in with a blog that is very different from anything that would have anything to do with finances.
However, it might be difficult for some people due to the way their blog is structured.
It might not sit well with your conscience
If we are being honest, the business model that credit card companies work on is getting people to commit to debit.
To most people, it’s no big deal to owe some money here and there in life, but to lots of other people, they feel quite uncomfortable with the credit card situation.
I have come across a few people who would never promote gambling offers and credit card affiliate offers because they feel that they are helping to promote something unhealthy, and could ruin lives.
If you are someone who has no issues with promoting certain offers, then this con will not apply to you.
Best Credit Card Affiliate Programs
1. Bankrate credit card affiliate program
The Bankrate credit card affiliate program boasts of being one of the greats in the financial affiliate marketing industry.
They require that you have your credit card-related website up and ready to go before you sign up for their affiliate program.
If your website isn’t up to date or you have no website at the time of your registration, your application will be denied.
Their commission rates vary and can be as low as $50 to as high as $115.
There are a good number of factors that affect these commission rates.
If you are looking for a few good reasons to join this Credit card affiliate program, then I have some below for you:
- They claim to connect their affiliate marketers with some of the best credit card offers carried by some of the top credit card companies.
- You are assigned only the best-dedicated account representatives, who have the quality experience, to help you in your promotional endeavors.
- They offer on-time payouts of your earned commissions and have been known to be reliable over the years.
- They give you access to top-notch technology solutions that help your promotional endeavors become more seamless and somewhat automated.
2. Opensky credit card affiliate program
As mentioned somewhere up there in this article, the credit cards you promote in a credit card affiliate program would be credit cards that offer some form of unique value to their users.
If you are interested in catering to individuals with bad credit, then this would be the credit card affiliate program for you to sign up to.
The Visa credit card company powers this credit card.
What makes this offer easy to promote, is that one; there are lots of people with bad credit, but still need a credit card loan.
Two; users do not need to have their credit history on the up and up, to get their card application approved.
Targeting people with bad credit who are looking to fix said bad credit, is the best way to go with this affiliate program.
A one-time refundable deposit is one of the few requirements needed for you to receive and use this card.
Also, the users of this credit card are only required to pay an annual fee of $35, which isn’t very pricey in my opinion.
This is another good point to work on for your promotion.
Commission Soup carries this credit card affiliate program, so you can go check it out.
3. Barclaycard affiliate program
The Barclaycard affiliate program is an excellent credit card affiliate program that gives you access to promote both the Barclaycard arrival plus world elite MasterCard, and the Barclaycard cash forward world MasterCard.
These two cards are both of high value and quite popular with both individuals looking to save and those who love to live in the moment money-wise.
You have a wide range of ways to earn high commissions with this program.
Below are a few reasons why you might want to consider joining the Barclaycard affiliate program, and they include:
- You earn high ticket commissions each time one of your referrals gets approved for both the Barclaycard arrival plus world elite MasterCard, and the Barclaycard cash forward world MasterCard.
- They offer low rates for their users, which is an excellent incentive displayed on the banner ads and text links they furnish you with for your promotions.
You can sign up for the Barclaycard affiliate program on flexOffers.
4. Credit-land affiliate program
Credit-land affiliate program is a credit card affiliate program that claims to give you access to credit card offers, that cover over 530 credit cards from some of the highest credit card companies in the world.
In addition to the high commission rates they offer for each approved credit card application, they also let you include/feature some of their high-quality content on their website.
They also claim that you can be sure of high conversions, as they furnish you with high-quality tools, materials, and information that help you effectively target the right kind of traffic for each of the credit card offers you promote.
Their commissions fall as low as $25 and can get as high as $90 per approved sign-up.
5. Credit.com
Credit.com is one of the more well-known and long-standing credit card affiliate programs that carry any kind of credit card, and a wide range of financial product offers you can think of.
In addition to excellent credit card offers, they also tackle personal finance, loans, and credit repair.
The credit card companies and credit cards they work with include but aren’t limited to American Express, visa, discover, MasterCard, Chase, Barclays, Capital One, etc.
With their unending list, you are sure to find a credit card offer that works perfectly with your promotional strategies.
They also have made claims to offer the juiciest commission payouts when it comes to this niche of affiliate marketing.
The only problem is, that there is hardly any information out there on their website, or anywhere else on the internet about the range of their payouts.
I guess you can only find out after you have been accepted into the program, but there have been known to carry credit card offers that convert well for most affiliate marketers.
6. Commission soup
Commission Soup is another one of those long-standing credit card affiliate marketing networks.
They offer a wide range of credit card offers from only the most renowned, and reputable banks you can think of.
With over 18 years in this niche, you can bet that they know more than a thing or two about promoting credit card affiliate offers.
They have been known to create a good number of avenues for their affiliate marketers to earn even more revenue from the platform.
They give all their affiliate marketers top access to uncanny technology and promotional materials that help to increase their chances of snagging a conversion.
Their commission rate varies, and these rates are determined by a good number of factors.
7. Flex offers
Flex offers is one of the more renowned and long-standing affiliate marketing networks.
They are known to work with only leading brands, and companies, and only feature high-quality offers.
In this affiliate marketing network, you can find excellent credit card affiliate programs and a multitude of finance-based offers.
The credit card affiliate programs you can find here include; the Barclaycard, CreditZo, the amalgamated Bank of Chicago bankcard, Student Credit Checker e.t.c.
The flex offers platform is also famed for bringing on over 50 new advertiser programs per day, which means you the affiliate have more options to choose from.
You are furnished with adequate support to help boost your conversions.
You are also given access to top-quality promotional copies, text links, banner ads, tracking tools, reports, and general affiliate support.
8. American Express affiliate program
The American Express affiliate program is another excellent credit card affiliate program you can sign up for, and earn high commissions.
It is easy to join, and you aren’t expected to pay any money to sign up
A few reasons to sign up for the American Express affiliate program:
- You are offered high commissions, paired with even more attractive incentives. Having any of the leads you send the AMEX affiliate program sign up for the American Express payment gateway, will earn you even more commissions.
- You have access to a wide range of top-notch promotional tools, which helps to ensure even higher conversions.
9. Credit karma
Credit Karma is one excellent affiliate program to promote, and I will tell you why in a bit, but let me first tell you a little bit about the company.
Credit Karma is a free credit repair company that helps people with bad credit begin to take charge of their credit situation and be on their way to fixing their bad credit situation.
Their services include but aren’t limited to free credit reports, scores, insights, etc.
They really have no end game here that requires you to pay any money i.e., no hidden fees, subscriptions, or upsells in the future.
They also do not require your credit card information to offer these services to you.
You can find the credit karma offer at yazing.com; this offer typically pays you $0.25 per sign-up you send their way.
Why would this be a great affiliate program for you to promote?
Well, since people are getting lots of quality financial services for free, hence they might be more inclined to sign up via your affiliate link and earn you a commission.
How to Make Residual Income With Credit Card Affiliate Programs?
The best way to get the most earnings out of any credit card affiliate program you decide to go with would be to promote it on your website adequately.
As with any other kind of affiliate product that you may choose to promote on your website or blog, there are many ways to go about it, and I will highlight a few below.
1. Write dedicated reviews
A quick online search would show you that there are tons and tons of credit cards and credit card companies out there, and lots of people tend to research a few of these credit card companies, and types before they sign up for one.
The first thing to do will be to research what people are looking for concerning the best credit card companies.
You can then dole out high-quality reviews of some of the best credit card companies out there with lots of benefits and subtly recommend these credit card companies to them to sign up for.
The key to earning here is to write these reviews on credit card affiliate programs you are signed up for.
Also, you should never write these reviews like you are trying to get them to sign up for any of the credit cards you write about. Instead, be as neutral as possible, highlighting both the pros and cons of using each credit card.
2. Create a blog or website centered on providing financial solutions
If you own a blog or website that offers quality financial solutions, you can suggest credit card companies now and then, in some of your high-value blogs and articles.
This is excellent for a situation where you do not want your whole blog centered on promoting the offers of a credit card affiliate program.
Let us say that you own a blog that gives people valuable advice on how to better their financial lives, and step up their credit score or something like that; you can seamlessly promote your credit card affiliate program products here, without sounding like a snake oil salesman.
3. By building an email list
Building an email list will always be a great way to up your earnings in any affiliate marketing niche.
It is such a powerful tool to arm yourself with, especially if you have any future upsells in mind to make more residual income.
Building an email list might take some time, but it is worth it in the long run.
You can start by churning out content so valuable, that your readers would not hesitate to sign up to your email list to stay updated.
Next, you can offer freebies, and giveaways, to get them to sign up for your email list.
These freebies and giveaways, don’t have to be anything expensive, just be creative with them.
Valuable digital products like ebooks work great.
Now that you have your email list ready, you can begin to promote your credit card affiliate links within your email blasts.
You are to make sure of two things before you begin to promote your affiliate links to your email list:
- One, ensure that you have a good rapport with your email list subscribers
- Two, be creative with the way you promote these links to them. Try not to seem spammy, or like you are trying to convince them to sign up.
Conclusion
It’s no news that I probably have a well-known positive bias toward affiliate marketing (I am a super fan), but believe me when I say that credit card affiliate programs are one of the most lucrative niches out there.
If you play your cards right, you could be making a major bank by being an affiliate of a few of the credit card affiliate programs and networks listed in this article.
The key here, as with any other affiliate marketing niche, is to ensure that you are passionate, knowledgeable, or at least enjoy this affiliate marketing niche.
Don’t just sign up for these programs because everyone’s doing it or because the commissions are super high.
Try to tie your credit card affiliate offers with your promotional content, and try to be as transparent as possible with your affiliate status during your website or blog promotions.
I wish you the best of luck as you explore this amazing affiliate marketing niche.
