I have an issue and I’d like to get some advice from readers. We post a lot of bank account bonus content but I’ve recently been running into the same issue on a fairly regular basis. The issue is that some bonuses only have an affiliate link available and no public non affiliate link.
We don’t use affiliate links for bank accounts (or credit cards). Traditionally what I’ve been able to do is to contact the financial institution and ask that instead of giving us a commission they offer our readers a better bonus instead. When that works, it’s fantastic. Unfortunately getting a response/deal in place rarely happens.
Before people get angry in the comments, don’t worry we still won’t be using those links and this isn’t a trap post to start adding them to the site. The few banks that do do this usually have public links that come along, but the affiliate links are almost always available (e.g public non affiliate links might be available 3-4 months of the year and the affiliate links available for 10+ months).
Normally I’d just refer readers to other sites that cover bank bonuses, unfortunately most of those just steal content without attribution. I’m really writing this post because I don’t know what to do.
Update: Thanks everybody for the response. I feel like most readers in the comments are missing the reasons why I don’t want to use affiliate links in the first place:
-  Editorial Control. If you have affiliate links then the company you’re promoting can dictate what is/isn’t discussed. For example with credit cards they don’t want you to mention churning for example.One of our best and most popular posts is what counts as a direct deposit. I don’t want to give companies the ability to tell us we aren’t allowed to list them there.
- Bias/perception of bias. Currently when we post a deal, readers know we are posting it (and reviewing it) fairly because we don’t have any incentive to do otherwise. If we have affiliate links then there is a temptation to rank certain bonuses that pay us higher than others. Even if we don’t give in to these temptations reader can have the perception that we have and question our motives. Currently if I rank a bonus as the best then readers might question why it’s #1, but they won’t say something like “this is only #1 because it pays you”.
I think I’ve found a solution that will work going forwards and will discuss this in further detail at a later stage.
This blog is great, so keep on keepin’ on!
I feel like you shouldn’t be talking to the banks at all.. you don’t want them to be aware of this site so the less attention the better.. most of them will hate that you exist so lets keep it quiet. But the affiliate links are fine if it’s the only option.. I’m sure no one will be bothered that you make a little $ from it as long as you disclose it as you’ve done here.
I vote “NO” on affiliate links !! I’m interested in seeing what you have come up with as a solution. Maybe offering some sort of bonus for those who find non-affiliate links as previously mentioned?.
You already have the reputation of being THE most unbiased / Customer centric $ blog out there… So if you used Affiliate links simply because you had too – AND they didnt exist otherwise – i can’t imagine anyone else would get pissed. That being said, I understand the burden of having your content castrated… Perhaps you can use
‘implied language’ – and let people in the comments ‘clarify’ things for people? That would keep you ‘legally’ within their ToS i beleive….
I see downsides to affiliate links. If you post one, then a better public offer comes along that you aren’t aware of, it can change a potential reader’s perception of the integrity of the site, even if you later change a post to show the better public offer.
The doubt would be “did they change it because it was better, or because they got found out?”
On the other hand, some deals simply aren’t available without an affiliate link (like that Discover one we discussed) and I can see not wanting to send your readers to another site because the deal simply wouldn’t be available otherwise.
Trust is hard to get and easy to lose and you really don’t have an easy decision here.
I think I would push the bank to provide a better deal for the readers in lieu of paying a referral fee. That way you could use an affiliate link, but having no vested interest you can stay impartial and above the fray.
Maybe you could offer a hefty finder’s fee to anyone who can find a better non-affiliate link if your best current offer has to be an affiliate link. That might show you’re trying to take some of the profit motive out of it and bolster your case for impartiality.
That’s an interesting idea (e.g bounty for a non affiliate better link). My current plan is to just push harder for a better offer for readers and see how that goes over the next two weeks or so.
I think affiliates links are traps ! You don’t want anyone to have control on what you post ! “Doctor of Credit” is “Doctor of Credit” no-one else ! Stay strong ! And thanks for ALL !
Will, I’m sure someone mentioned this earlier, but what if you set up a separate company where all the affiliate commissions go into and then donate all that money to charity? You can pick a few charities or ask your readers which charities they recommend. Seems like a win for the readers (we get more bank account bonuses) and needy charities (they get money).
If a bank doesn’t like what you said about their bonus, you can remove the affiliate link and maybe list the banks email address so we can complain to them. Just a few ideas.
Maybe setup a subsidiary blog site, so that the content their would satisfy the affiliates likings, you get affiliate $, and we get the best deal (as long as it really is the best out). I’m just worried that the affiliate programs could send you remove requests of the old posts here that they do not like.
Why not post about the deal, mentioning that this offer is only available via affiliate link, but without including any actual link? Let the reader decide which affiliate link to use from other sites that he/she finds themselves.
I don’t want to reward those other sites at all, as they just steal information without attribution. Sometimes they steal whole posts and datapoints (without linking to our site) that took 100’s of hrs to put together.
I don’t care if you make some money from affiliate links. I don’t care how much money you make either. It’s not my business. You deserve that money for all the time you have been serving this blog community. As long as you provide all available offers stating the main facts about them, our job is to make our own judgement.
I love the integrity of this site, but I would go a step beyond the “only using affiliate links when no other option exists” and say you should use your own affiliate links always, unless another better offer is available, and then use that link in those cases. I love this site, and I want you guys to make a few bucks so this great content keeps coming.