BASKING RIDGE, N.J. — Affinity Federal Credit Union here is rolling out a new credit card-Hillsborough Township Rewards Visa-that offers rewards points to cardholders and gives back a portion of the transaction fee to selection youth, senior and nonprofit groups.
The card is exclusive to Hillsborough Township residents and organizations. "Hillsborough Township previously had a co-branded card in place through another financial institution," said Patrick McDermott, AVP-business development for the $1.8-billion credit union. "It ran successfully for a few years until the partnering bank was acquired and the program was deemed non-profitable."
Hillsborough Township wanted to reinstate the program, McDermott said, and created a volunteer credit card advisory committee to research potential financial partners.
"They approached numerous financial institutions in the community and ultimately Affinity was the only financial institution to submit a proposal," McDermott said.
The reason the 126,000-member credit union wanted to team up with Hillsborough Township was simple, according to McDermott. "Conceptually, the program supports youth, senior and nonprofit organizations, and there was an obvious synergy between the objectives of the Township and Affinity's philosophy of helping our communities and members."
CEO John Fenton agreed.
"This is just another tremendous service that Affinity provides to make our community prosper and to be a good corporate citizen," he said. "It was only natural to team up with Hillsborough Township to offer this exclusive credit card. We-and in this case, specifically the employees and members of our Hillsborough branch-are part of the community."
For every dollar spent, one point is earned redeemable for travel awards, gift certificates or cash. An additional perk is added discounts for online purchases. There are no annual fees for this card.
The nonprofit groups receiving funds from this card were selected based on their interest levels and conformity of nonprofit bylaws with the credit union's field of membership guidelines, including the nonprofit group's ability to accept new members, McDermott noted.
"The remuneration to Hillsborough Township is based on a sliding scale, dependent on resident participant and average balances," he said.
Affinity FCU incurred several costs for the creation of this product, McDermott said.
"We had to cover the costs of marketing support-direct mail to over 11,000 households, billboards, brochures, posters, advertisements, branch signage, etc.), the creation of a new credit card BIN, the development of a Hillsborough webpage and ordering customized Hillsborough credit cards," he said.
McDermott said the credit union forecasts a positive ROI by the second quarter of 2010.
