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American Express, long known as a purveyor of traveler’s checks, started their own credit-card program in 1958, and the Hilton hotel chain’s Carte Blanche expanded their affinity card into a credit card.

Milton Kidd, a retired professor from Washington, D.C., says he felt strung along by his airline-branded affinity card.

“An affinity card creates a false sense of relationship, of being special,” she explains.

Others say an affinity card is worth it only if you’re a frequent business traveler on an expense account — and even then, it can be risky.

Its affinity card division - credit cards that provide support for charities and Labour and the Liberal Democrats - is being wound down.