12 March 2007
Credit cards offering to donate small percentages of money to charity are becoming all the rage with ethical shoppers, but recent research has revealed that some credit card providers are proving to be less generous than others.
Problems arise when people who do not repay the full balance on their card each month or do not have a 0% interest deal in place, discover that donating to charity via a credit card can be costly, as the donation can be dwarfed by the interest costs incurred on high purchase APRs.
Nick White, Director of Personal Finance at independent online price comparison and switching website uSwitch.com, commented: "Donating through charity credit cards is quick and painless, but consumers need to realise that not all cards offer the charity, or the consumer, a good deal."
Mr White also highlighted the fact that while the donation sizes may differ between credit card providers, so too does the amount the consumer needs to spend in order to qualify for the charity gifts.
"The percentage of spending that goes to the charity can range from 0.25% with the Halifax Cancer Research UK Card to 1% with the American Express Red Card," said Mr White. "This is a difference of £45 a year on £6,000 of spending."
While consumers should always check the small print first, the best five cards for charitable donations on the market, according to uSwitch.com are Amex's Red Card, which donates between 1 and 1.25%, Nationwide's Comic Relief card, which donates, 0.5%, RBS's Lifeboat Mastercard at 0.3%, Co-Op's Help the Aged card, which donates 0.25% and Halifax's Cancer Research card, which donates 0.25%.
© 2008 Adfero Ltd
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