大象传媒

Charity credit cards mean you can donate whilst you spend. These are credit cards that automatically give to good causes when we use them. But as our own queen of shops Lucy Siegle has been finding out - there's a catch. Lucy has discovered that the usual donation is just 0.25% of what you spend. That means if you spend 拢100 they donate just 25p to charity. In fact to get 拢100 donated to charity you have to spend a staggering 拢40,000.

The rates do vary, the most generous rate Lucy found was for Aids in Africa where you'd only have to spend 拢10,000 to get a 拢100 donation.

There is a way your chosen charity could get a lot more. Instead of going for a charity credit card you could go for a cashback card which means you get a percentage of whatever you spend, but you must be prepared to pay it off in full at the end of every month, otherwise you might find that the interest outweighs the cashback. Most generous gives you 拢120 for the first year from the same 拢500, you could then donate that to charity. And don't forget Gift Aid, if you tick the right box on a donation form the charity can then collect anther 28% from the government.

Do you have a charity credit card? Will you continue to use it? Or do you prefer to give to charity in other ways?