Sometimes, the credit card company’s name is less obvious on your credit card. This is especially the case when a credit card is offered through an agreement called “co-branding.”

When a large corporation signs a partnership agreement with a credit card company, co branded credit cards are the result of that agreement. The “Mileage Plus” Visa offered by United Airlines is actually is the result of a partnership between United Airlines and the Chase® credit card company. Likewise, when Amazon.com partnered with the Chase® credit card company, the Amazon.com credit card was born.

In these examples, it isn’t Chase that does the marketing of credit cards to the public. Instead, United Airlines or Amazon.com markets the cards. The benefits offered by the co-branded credit cards are tailored specifically to the items offered by the large company. When you use your United Airlines “Mileage Plus” card, you’ll get rewarded with airline reward miles on United Airlines. You wouldn’t expect to get free miles from American Airlines when you use your United Airlines “Mileage Plus” card, right?

In a similar fashion, the Amazon.com credit card offers you an Amazon.com gift certificate each time you’ve spent a certain amount on your Amazon.com credit card. You won’t get airline miles, cash back, or free Starbucks coffee: you’ll get a $25 gift certificate to spend online at Amazon.com.

A co-branded credit card offers tailored rewards to people who use that card, but it also helps the corporation that has teamed up with the credit card company to issue the card. Corporations partner with credit card companies to co-brand credit cards for a few reasons. Two of the main reasons are:

• It is profitable for corporations: They directly or indirectly get money from the credit card companies.
• It establishes consumer loyalty to a corporation and its brand: By putting their name in your wallet, you will see it every day.

If you have a store card, such as a Macy’s credit card, it is the same thing as a co-branded credit card, except you can only use that credit card at Macy’s.