Affiliate marketing in the financial industry has a scary ring to it.
But believe us when we say that neither a CPA nor a financial adviser is required to succeed in the personal finance market.
Find the best affiliate programs in the financial sector, direct your audience there, and sit back while the major banks, credit card companies, and loan providers do the heavy lifting.
And now is an excellent time to launch an advertising campaign for a financial affiliate program. After all, SuperMoney reports that credit cards are the most frequently used form of consumer credit in the United States.
The average American has 2.7 credit cards, and the average American household owes $5,315 on their credit cards. This equates to a total of over 191 million people.
That’s just a taste of the potential profits to be made in the credit card industry. Include things like bank accounts, loans, credit ratings, and more. A clear opportunity exists for affiliate marketers in the financial sector.
Best Financial Affiliate Programs
1. BBVA Banks
Although the name “BBVA” might not ring any bells, the company has actually been around since 1964.
They started out as Central Bank, later became Compass, then Compass Bancshares, Compass BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria), and are now simply BBVA.
Traditional banking services such as checking and savings accounts, loans (both personal and business), mortgages, credit cards, and investment products are all available to their US clientele.
Here’s where things get exciting: They’ll pay you $85 for each successful lead you send their way. The above image shows their EPC value to be $436.13.
Keep in mind that there is nothing stopping you from later negotiating a separate commission rate if you send enough pre-qualified traffic to a program like this.
The great thing about promoting a program like this is that you can reach people interested in personal finance education, home decor, or parenting.
- Commission rate: $85 per lead
- Cookie duration: TBC
Recommendation: Make Passive Income Online
2. USAA Credit Cards
USAA Credit Cards, to begin, serve a subset of the general population by providing banking services to current and former service members.
We also noticed that they provide a comprehensive selection of banking services, including insurance policies, credit cards, checking and savings accounts, and automobile loans, among others.
In addition to standard banking services like mortgages and insurance, they also provide retirement and investment options.
Although some of their products are made available through a partnership with another provider, this still means that a military family can meet all of their financial needs with a single stop.
Payouts to affiliates are below average for financial services programs at $25 per lead.
But USAA brings in a lot of cash for their partners, and between their 1.3 million active members and 21.8 million veteran retirees, you have a sizable customer base to tap into.
Those figures give you a great deal of leeway.
- Commission rate: $25 per lead
- Cookie duration: 30 days
3. Lending Tree
Lending Tree was highlighted in our article on top affiliate programs for debt settlement, but it is deserving of another nod here.
No, we’re not being sluggish; rather, we want to direct potential affiliates toward the most lucrative programs available.
Initially, Lending Tree is a website that allows users to compare the costs of various financial products like mortgages, unsecured loans, and insurance policies.
Even though borrowers have the option of going straight to the lender, many prefer to use these online marketplaces instead.
We can infer from their EPC that Lending Tree has successfully penetrated this market.
You should join Lending Tree’s affiliate program if your blog can in any way, shape, or form promote their goods.
- Commission rate: Up to $70 per lead
- Cookie duration: 14 days
Recommendation: Make Passive Income Online
4. LifeLock
The reason why LifeLock exists is because identity theft is a lot more common than most people realize.
What happens to the average victim is bad enough, but the average loss is $1,343.
Since 2011, these crimes have cost an estimated $107 billion.
Identity theft can be avoided with the help of LifeLock, which is why it is so popular.
They keep an eye on your finances to see if anything fishy is going on, like a change of address or credit file updates, or even if your private information is being traded on the dark web.
Conversely, some studies have found that up to 60% of businesses don’t report data breaches for up to 60 days after they occur.
Consequently, LifeLock could theoretically tap into an infinite customer base.
With a commission rate of up to $110 per sale, it’s clear that defending people from cybercrime can be lucrative as well.
LifeLock has been around since 2006, proving that they have found a niche market for their product.
There are a variety of membership tiers to choose from, with the cheapest one still covering identity theft victims for up to $25,000 in lost money.
- Commission rate: Up to $110 per sale
- Cookie duration: 30 days
5. CIT Bank
CIT Bank has been providing financial services to the community of St. Louis, Missouri since 1908.
This bank has thrived over the past decade despite weathering two global recessions and a slew of international conflicts.
They’ve broadened their selection of financial offerings to encompass more than just mortgages and credit cards, with a variety of savings and certificates of deposit options also available.
They have no-penalty CDs and other long-term savings accounts with competitive interest rates.
When compared to other affiliate offers, especially other bank affiliate programs, CIT’s offer of $100 per qualified lead is extremely generous.
Even though you may have to put in more effort to promote financial offers such as CIT, the rewards will more than make up for it.
It’s still worth it because you’re making 10 times as much for only 2x the effort it takes to earn a $10 commission.
Never in your life will you find a company willing to pay you that much.
- Commission rate: $100 per lead
- Cookie duration: 30 days
Recommendation: Make Passive Income Online
6. Barclays US Online Savings
Financial services provider Barclays and its associated credit card, the Barclaycard, are well-known in the United Kingdom (UK) after hundreds of years in the industry.
Since their founding in 1690, the company has expanded into a global banking behemoth serving 48 million customers in 200 countries and territories.
This affiliate program is for people in the United States who already have a checking or savings account elsewhere but would like to take advantage of the higher interest rates offered by Barclays.
If you’ve been paying attention, you’re probably shocked by their EPC of $906.78.
In anticipation of your inquiry, we’ll state that based on what we found on Commission Junction, we have no choice but to believe that the data you’ve provided is inaccurate. We are currently investigating this matter for more information.
To justify a monthly EPC of nearly $1,000, each affiliate would need to refer hundreds of loan applicants.
To put it another way, affiliates promoting Barclays US Online Savings are making a mint.
- Commission rate: $2 per sale
- Cookie duration: 45 days
7. Ally Invest
In addition to providing home and auto loans, Ally also provides online savings and investment programs.
However, the investment aspect of the business—more specifically stock trading—is where their affiliate program shines brightest.
Those with trading experience can opt to trade on their own, while those who would rather not do so on their own can invest in a managed portfolio.
This is the ideal course for you if you’ve ever imagined yourself as a modern-day Warren Buffet.
The $900+ EPC and up to $50 commission per lead mean it’s a great fit for you, too.
When marketing a day trading program, it helps to have access to a specific demographic: affluent individuals who are also interested in day trading.
Ally is paying their affiliates a lot of money, so it’s well worth your time to locate or develop a specific subset of the population.
- Commission rate: $25 – $50 per lead
- Cookie duration: 45 days
Recommendation: Make Passive Income Online
8. M1 Finance
M1 bills itself as the “super app” of financial management. Simply put, it’s a place where people can do all three of these things—invest, borrow, and spend—in one streamlined system.
You can use it to make investments that are adaptable, individualized, and automated; to borrow against those investments at rates of 2% to 3.5% with no additional paperwork required; and to spend said funds through online banking.
The app has received over 35,000 five-star reviews on the Apple and Google Play stores, and the platform is being used by hundreds of thousands of investors. What’s more, Yahoo has recognized it as the best free trading platform.
The next topic is M1’s affiliate program. Join the Impact affiliate network, and you’ll receive a tidy $100 whenever an account you refer raises $1,000 in funding.
Although the cookie window is only 30 days long, your commission will be paid out as long as your referrals make $1,000 within 400 days.
- Commission rate: $100
- Cookie duration: 30 days
9. Peer Street
Peer Street is a unique real estate investment firm founded by former Google employees.
Unlike other types of investments, you can get your feet wet with just $1,000.
Peer Street can be thought of as a crowdfunded real estate investment platform that combines conventional wisdom with cutting-edge machine learning techniques.
The truth is that savings accounts earn at most 3% annually. Potential annual returns on a professionally managed stock portfolio are on the order of 10%.
However, real estate investment is one of the few types of investments that will always be profitable, and Peer Street consistently earns double-digit returns on these investments.
This is a great program because it stands out from the crowd, which is important when promoting affiliate offers.
With an entry-level investment of only $1,000 and a healthy EPC, the offer of $30 per lead is also very generous.
It seems likely that Peer Street will make a larger impact on the industry than most anticipate.
- Commission rate: $30 per lead
- Cookie duration: 45 days
Recommendation: Make Passive Income Online
10. Acorns
Acorns is a micro-investing platform that makes it simple for users to set aside a small amount of money from each paycheck or invest their spare change automatically.
Expertly crafted investment portfolios are made available to users, and those portfolios are dynamically rebalanced as users’ funds grow. As of now, over eight million people have signed up, so it must be doing something right.
The average age of the brand’s consumers is 24–35, making them significantly younger than the consumers of other financial brands. That being said, this is one of the best affiliate programs in the financial sector to join if your site’s primary audience is Millennials.
Again, you don’t need to drive sales to make money through this affiliate program because Acorns pays a $10 commission for every qualified lead you send its way.
- Commission rate: $10 per lead
- Cookie duration: 30 days
11. Truebill
The goal of Truebill, a financial management app, is to help users cut costs, keep track of their spending, and better manage their subscriptions.
Its features are impressive. Some of the things it can do include canceling subscriptions you no longer want and having experts help you negotiate better rates.
Certain aspects of the app, such as downloading it and using some of its features, are free of charge, while others require payment. The “Cancellations Concierge” service I mentioned above is one of the premium features that cost an additional $3 to $12 per month, or $36 to $48 per year, to access.
You don’t have to generate a premium sale like in some other personal finance affiliate programs.
The alternative is that Truebill will give you $10 whenever one of your referrals installs the app and connects it to a bank account or credit card.
- Commission rate: $10 per linked account
- Cookie duration: 30 days
12. Personal Capital
To provide “a better, more logical and personal way to invest and manage your money,” as the company puts it, is the stated mission of Personal Capital.
To do so, it provides its users with a wide range of financial planning resources, such as a net worth calculator, a retirement planner, and a fee analyzer that searches for hidden charges in investment accounts.
As of July 2021, it manages over $20 billion in assets for over 3 million users, so it must be doing something right.
By participating in Personal Capital’s affiliate program, you can earn a cut of the profits.
The company claims that its top affiliates can earn as much as $50,000 per month through the affiliate program, which pays an impressive $100 for each qualified lead.
- Commission rate: $100 per qualified lead
- Cookie duration: 30 days
Recommendation: Make Passive Income Online
13. Credit Karma
Credit Sesame and Credit Karma are comparable services for two reasons: both begin with the word “credit,” and both give you access to your credit score at no cost to you.
In spite of this, with over 100 million users, it is arguably a larger and better-known brand than Credit Sesame. Thus, it should become less of a hassle for affiliates to push the product.
However, (sorry, there’s always a “but”) earning a commission here isn’t quite as easy as it is with many other financial affiliate programs. Why? Simply put, Credit Karma only offers payouts for online mortgage applications.
That’s a significant investment, which means a longer conversion funnel, and it immediately eliminates anyone in your target market who doesn’t already own their own home.
- Commission rate: $12 per online mortgage submission
- Cookie duration: 30 days
14. Credit Sesame
Members of Credit Sesame have access to free credit reports and expert tips on how to raise their credit scores.
In addition, members can receive up to $100 per month into a fee-free debit account as their credit scores rise. Can you get a financial reward for establishing or improving your credit history? I can’t believe it’s true!
In case the worst happens and a member’s identity is stolen, Credit Sesame provides them with $1 million in free identity theft insurance.
With so many useful tools included at no cost, Credit Sesame seems like a no-brainer for affiliate marketers targeting the personal finance sector.
The best part is that its affiliate program offers commissions of $9 per registered user, regardless of whether or not the user goes on to make a purchase.
- Commission rate: $9 per registered user
- Cookie duration: 30 days
Recommendation: Make Passive Income Online
15. Robinhood
With Robinhood, you can buy and sell stocks without paying any transaction fees, making it ideal for novice investors. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because it sparked a trading frenzy at GameStop in the first quarter of 2021.
Huge numbers of people use it; in March of this year, there were 18 million funded accounts, up from just over seven million a year earlier.
While there is undeniably a great deal of curiosity about services like Robinhood, the terms and conditions aren’t particularly attractive when compared to the best financial affiliate programs; $5 per lead isn’t exactly a cause for celebration.
Nonetheless, referring funded accounts is where the real money is.
- Commission rate: $5 per signup, $20 per funded account
- Cookie duration: 30 days
16. Coinbase
If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ll know that the financial sector is paying a lot of attention to cryptocurrency (and beyond).
About 14% of Americans (or 21 million people) currently own cryptocurrency, and another 13% have plans to do so within the next year.
Coinbase, which bills itself as the ” easiest place to buy and sell cryptocurrency,” is where we are now.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, and even Dogecoin are all available on the platform.
The platform has more than 56 million verified users and a quarterly traded volume of $335 billion. It is also accessible in more than a hundred different countries.
This, of course, means that the financial rewards are substantial. For the first three months after joining the Coinbase affiliate program, you will receive 50% of the trading fees paid by the people you refer to the platform.
- Commission rate: 50% of trading fees for three months
- Cookie length: 30 days
17. Experian
As one of the “big three” credit score providers alongside Equifax and TransUnion, Experian has a significant presence in the consumer financial services industry. Experian is the go-to resource for consumers in dozens of countries interested in understanding and enhancing their credit profiles.
Considering the significance of credit in our daily lives, Experian’s affiliate program has excellent potential as one of the best in the financial sector.
Do you still need convincing of the magnitude of this chance? Experian has delivered over 20 million online credit reports and has over 3.1 million members who use its credit monitoring products.
Is it true that Experian has one of the best affiliate programs in the banking industry? The truth is, it’s a bit of a hodgepodge.
One perk of this CJ Affiliate-powered program is a $6 commission for referring new users who create an account.
For premium products, affiliate earnings can be anywhere from $7 to $30. However, compared to other affiliate programs in the financial services industry, this one’s 10-day cookie window is by far the worst.
- Commission rate: $6 – $30 per order
- Cookie duration: 10 days
Recommendation: Make Passive Income Online
18. Farther Finance
Until recently, only the very wealthy had access to wealth managers. It has the word “wealth” in it, so that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
But, to use a horrible buzzword, Farther Finance is one of the companies attempting to “democratize” the industry by bringing wealth management to the masses through a combination of technology and expert advisors.
If you join their affiliate program, you can assist them in this endeavor. However, the affiliate terms aren’t ideal, paying out just $5 for each new email signup you refer. This is on par with Robinhood. Conversely, though, you need not actually drive a sale to earn a commission.
- Commission rate: $5 per new email signup
- Cookie duration: 30 days
20. Binance
Binance is another major cryptocurrency exchange alongside Coinbase. More than 1.4 million transactions take place every second, and its average daily volume is $2 billion.
Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this is a highly lucrative industry. Binance has one of the best-paying affiliate programs we’ve seen in the financial industry, paying a lifetime commission of up to 50% on every qualified trade.
It’s important to note, however, that not everyone can join the Binance affiliate program. To be successful as an affiliate marketer, you must:
- Reach a minimum of 5,000 followers on any one of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram
- Establish and maintain a crypto-focused forum with a membership of 500+
- Having a user base of 2,000 people or more on your website.
Commission rate: Up to 50% lifetime commissions
Cookie duration: 90 days
Bonus Recommendation: Make Passive Income Online
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