LGBT Credit Cards Everywhere

Bank of America announced this week that it is partnering with Olivia Travel to launch a credit card aimed at the lesbian community. The card, a WorldPoints Platinum Plus Visa, lets cardholders earn points towards travel and merchandise, including Olivia travel. While Olivia claims that this is the first card marketed specifically to lesbians, I’d have to say that the Rainbow Card, fronted by Martina Navratilova, comes close. Yes, the Rainbow Card markets to both gay men and lesbians, but let’s face it, Martina just appeals more to us gals. There are also several other cards aimed at the broad LGBT community, like the HRC Visa Platinum card, not to mention cards for causes we tend to support, such as the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Hey, we’re a community with a buying power of $641 billion (PDF link). Not surprising businesses are paying attention. It will be interesting to see how Olivia’s card fares, though, since it is the first one (as far as I know) marketed to any part of the LGBT community without the message of “support the community through your card.” Yes, Olivia as a company supports LGBT causes, but they’re not using this as part of their credit card message. Personally, we had a LGBT-related card for a while, but gave it up in favor of one with a cashback feature, figuring that instead of supporting LGBT causes through our card, we’d get the cash back and make separate donations to the organizations we support. I won’t go through the numbers, but it seemed to work out better that way both for us and for the organizations. This makes me think that Olivia will do fairly well with their card; even those who want to give back to the community know that it doesn’t have to be through a credit card. If I want a card purely for personal rewards, that’s OK, too.

Interestingly, Martina will be aboard the Olivia Grand Caribbean Cruise this April. Presumably she won’t flash the Rainbow Card in her wallet.

Do you have an LGBT-related credit card? Would you consider one?