Many financial firms disguise their identity by hiding behind other names. We reveal the companies behind many popular brands!
When is a brand not a brand? When it's a disguise!
Huh? I hear you mutter. What I mean is that many well-known brands are actually fronts for other companies. Indeed, in financial services, particularly in the credit-card arena, it's very common for firms to fly a false flag.
What's wrong with that? you ask. Well, it can be a real problem if you're applying for credit. For example, you might apply for two apparently different cards, only to be rejected for both because they're actually issued by the same underlying organisation. Believe it or not, there are around 1,300 differently branded cards available in the UK. I know that we're a nation of credit junkies, but, honestly, do we really need over a thousand different types of plastic?
As the following lists reveal, many popular credit-card brands are actually joint ventures between small firms and their larger rivals - usually the UK's biggest banks or their American rivals. Essentially, just six companies have the UK affinity card market sewn up. Here are some of the brands with concealed identities:
Co-operative Bank
- Action Aid
- Amnesty International
- Barnardo's
- Children's Society
- Christian Aid
- Greenpeace
- Help The Aged
- Labour Party (Call that a party? Have you seen John Prescott's dancing?!!!)
- Liberal Democrats
- Medical Foundation
- Mothers' Union
- National Association of Head Teachers
- Northern Rock
- Oxfam
- Ramblers Association
- RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds)
- Save The Children
- Smile
- Stroud & Swindon BS
- Tearfund
- Terrence Higgins Trust
- Vegetarian Society
HBOS
- Bank of Scotland
- Battersea Dogs' Home
- Birmingham Midshires
- Britannia BS
- British Red Cross
- Cancer Research UK
- Carphone Warehouse
- ChryslerCard
- Great Ormond Street Hospital
- Halifax
- Harley-Davidson
- Intelligent Finance
- JeepCard
- Lawn Tennis Association
- Little Black Card
- Macmillan Cancer Relief
- Marie Curie
- Mencap
- MercedesCard
- National Canine Defence League
- National Childbirth Trust
- National Union of Teachers
- NSPCC (children's charity)
- Premier Rugby
- Royal Horticultural Society
- Royal National Institute for the Deaf
- Sainsbury's Bank
- The AA
- TUC (Trades Union Congress) (Available via the Fool)
- UNISON (Available via the Fool)
- Welsh Rugby Union
- Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society
- Youth Hostels Association
HSBC
- Artscard
- Beatties
- Beneficial Bank
- Cambridge University
- English Heritage
- First Direct
- Furness BS
- GM Card
- Hamilton Direct Bank
- HFC Bank
- Household Bank
- Institute of Directors
- John Lewis and Waitrose
- Kennel Club
- Marbles
- Marks & Spencer FS
- Morrisons
- National Counties BS
- Open University
- PC World
- RSPCA (Available via the Fool)
- United Airlines
- Wanadoo
- Welsh (Classic Plus Credit Card)
Lloyds TSB
- Accucard
- Create Card
- easyMoney
- Goldfish
- More Th>n
- Scottish Widows
MBNA
- Abbey
- Alliance & Leicester
- AOL
- Bmi
- Breakthrough Breast Cancer
- British Heart Foundation
- Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester United FC (and 28 other football clubs, including my own West Ham FC)
- Cheshire BS
- ChildLine
- Classic FM
- Conran
- England Rugby
- Golf Card
- Homebase
- Manufacturing, Science & Finance Union
- Melton Mowbray BS
- Motorcard
- National Geographic
- NFU (National Farmers' Union)
- PCA Cricket Card
- RAC
- Red Ribbon
- Rotary International
- Ryanair.com
- Scout Association
- Ski Club of GB
- SonyCard
- Star Trek (beam me up, MBNA!)
- Thomas Cook
- Toys 'R' Us
- UNICEF
- Virgin Money (Available via the Fool)
- WWF (that's pandas, not wrestlers!)
National Australia Bank Group
- Clydesdale Bank
- Yorkshire Bank
Royal Bank of Scotland issues cards for these brands:
- AAdvantage
- Airmiles
- Coutts & Co. (bankers to the gentry, don't you know!)
- Direct Line
- Lifeboats
- Lombard Direct
- MINT
- NatWest
- Shell
- Tesco Personal Finance
- Ulster Bank (NI)
- Woodland Trust
Other popular brands
- ASDA is GE Capital Bank
- British Airways is American Express (Available via the Fool)
- Bristol & West is Bank of Ireland
- Comic Relief is Nationwide BS (Available via the Fool)
- Caravan Club, CSMA and SAGA are Liverpool Victoria
- First Trust Bank (NI) is Allied Irish Bank
- Leeds & Holbeck BS is Morgan Stanley (Available via the Fool)
- Woolwich is Barclays
So, as you can see, hundreds of charities, professional bodies and unions have teamed up with Co-op Bank, HBOS, HSBC or MBNA to offer credit cards to their members. This is no bad thing in itself, but I always think that it pays to know with whom you're dealing!
More: Find a great 0% card in our Credit Card centre.
Cliff owns shares in HBOS.
