Baffled By The Brand!

When it comes to financial businesses, do you know with whom you're dealing? We reveal the firms behind the brands.

In the business world, a well-known, well-respected brand is a valuable commercial asset in itself. For example, Richard Branson has built a string of successful businesses under the Virgin name, and the Coca-Cola brand is reckoned to be the most valuable in the world.

Indeed, according to a recent survey by The Motley Fool, users of credit cards put branding and reputation ahead of other factors, including balance-transfer fees and long balance-transfer periods. Eight out of ten users say that brand and reputation are important, and two in five are happy with their existing credit-card providers. In The Fool's online survey, Barclaycard emerged on top, having dominated this market since launching the UK's first credit card in 1966.

However, sometimes brands can be plain annoying, particularly when they disguise the underlying owner or administrator of a financial organisation. This is especially common in the market for credit cards, where over 1,300 differently branded cards exist, but the vast majority of these are issued by five major banking groups.

If you don't know with whom you're dealing, then things can get a bit twisted. For example, credit-card issuers don't allow cardholders to transfer balances between their own cards. So, if you want to cut your interest bill by taking advantage of 0% balance transfers, then you need to tread carefully. Make sure that you choose a credit card which isn't issued by your existing card company. Also, if you apply for credit with the same company twice in a relatively short period of time, then this could count against you.

As many British businesses simply aren't big enough to set up their own credit-card arm, hundreds of firms (including building societies, charities, sports clubs, professional bodies and unions) have formed joint ventures with leading credit-card providers to issue so-called 'affinity' or 'donation' cards. Here is a long list of some of the most popular brands in the world of plastic:

1) As part of a mutual (member-owned) society, the Co-operative Bank is particularly strong in the arena of charity credit cards. It has issued cards for, among others:

Brand	Brand	Brand
Actionaid	Help the Aged	Shelter
Amnesty International	Help the Hospices	Sightsavers International
Association of Surgeons	Labour Party	Smile
Barnardo's	League Against Cruel Sports	SPCK
BUAV	Liberal Democrats	Stroud & Swindon BS
Cafod	Medical Foundation	Tearfund
Children in Crisis	Mothers' Union	Terence Higgins Trust
Children's Aid Direct	Northern Rock	Vegetarian Society
Children's Society	Oxfam	WaterAid
Christian Aid	Ramblers Association	Woodland Trust
Concern	RSPB	Yorkshire BS
Greenpeace	Save the Children

2) HBOS (Halifax/Bank of Scotland) has issued credit cards under the following brands:

Brand	Brand	Brand
Amazon	Intelligent Finance	NSPCC
aqua	ipoints	Sainsbury's Bank
Birmingham Midshires	Jeep	SSPCA
Britannia BS	Little Black Card	The AA
Cancer Research UK	Marriott	TUC
Chrysler	Mercedes	Unison
CWU	National Union of Teachers	Welsh Rugby Union
Harley-Davidson	Norwich & Peterborough BS

3) HSBC has issued the following credit cards:

Brand	Brand	Brand
Artscard	HFC Bank	Marks & Spencer &MORE
Beneficial Bank	Hilton	Morrisons
Cambridge University	Household Bank	Open University
English Heritage	Institute of Directors	Orange
First Direct	John Lewis and Waitrose	PC World
GM Card	Kennel Club	RSPCA
Hamilton Direct Bank	Marbles

4) I found 125 (!) differently branded credit cards issued by American giant MBNA:

Brand	Brand	Brand
Abbey	England Rugby	Premier Rugby and rugby clubs
Alliance & Leicester	Fulham FC	Priority Club
Amivo	Garfield	Queens Park Rangers FC
AOL	Golf Card	RAC
Arsenal FC	Great Ormond Street Hospital	Raith Rovers FC
Aston Villa FC	Grimsby Town FC	Rangers FC
Bank of Cyprus	GSE Racing	Reading FC
Battersea Dogs & Cats Home	Halfords	Red Ribbon
Birmingham City FC	Heart of Midlothian FC	Robinsons Country Leisure
Blackburn Rovers FC	Homebase	Rotary International
Bmi	Honda Racing	Rotherham United FC
Bolton Wanderers FC	Huddersfield Town FC	Royal British Legion
Born Free Foundation	Ipswich Town FC	Royal Doulton
Bradford City AFC	Leeds United FC	Royal Horticultural Society
Breakthrough Breast Cancer	Leicester City FC	Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
British Heart Foundation	Leyton Orient FC	Ryanair.com
British Marine Federation	Liverpool FC	Sargent Cancer Care
British Motorcycle Federation	Lufthansa	Scout Association
BT	Macmillan Cancer Support	Sheffield United FC
Burnley FC	Manchester City FC	Ski Club of GB
Cardiff City FC	Manufacturing, Science & Finance Union	SonyCard
Carlisle United FC	Melton Mowbray BS	Southampton FC
Celtic FC	Mencap	SpeedwayGP
Charlton Athletic FC	Middlesbrough FC	Star Trek
Chelsea FC	Moto GP	Sunderland FC
Cheshire BS	Motorcard	The National Trust
ChildLine	MotorCycle Action Group	Thomas Cook
Classic FM	National Aids Trust	Tottenham Hotspur FC
Classical Arts	National Association of Head Teachers	Toys 'R' Us
Colchester United FC	National Farmers' Union	Tranmere Rovers FC
Conran	National Geographic Society	UK Athletics
Crewe Alexandra FC	National Trust	Unicef
Cricket	Newcastle United FC	VIP Entertainment Card
Crystal Palace FC	NFU	Virgin Money
Cystic Fibrosis Trust	Norwich City FC	Watford FC
Darlington FC	Oxford United FC	West Ham United FC
Delta Air Lines	PADI	Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society
Diabetes UK	PCA Cricket Card	World Superbikes
Dogs Trust	PDSA	WSPA
Dunfermline BS	Peterborough United FC	WWF UK (pandas, not wrestling!)
England Cricket	Port Vale FC	Wycombe Wanderers FC
England FA	Portsmouth FC

5) Royal Bank of Scotland issues credit cards for Coutts & Co., Lifeboats, MINT, NatWest, Shell, Tesco and Ulster Bank (NI).

To wrap things up, here are the issuers of other popular credit-card brands:

Brand	Brand
American Express	BMW, British Airways, Nectar and RED
Bank of Ireland	Bristol & West and the Post Office
Barclaycard	SkyCard and Woolwich
Citi	AAdvantage and bmibaby
GE Capital Bank	ASDA, Debenhams andMothercare
Liverpool Victoria	Caravan Club, CSMA and Saga
Lloyds TSB	Airmiles Duo and Create Card
Morgan Stanley	buy and fly!, i24 and Leeds BS
National Australia Bank Group	Clydesdale Bank andYorkshire Bank
Nationwide BS	Comic Relief

So, there you have it: 237 credit-card brands uncovered, analysed and grouped together. I need a lie down after trawling through that lot!

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