Affinity Credit Cards – What Are They?

Affinity credit cards are an ideal vehicle if you wish to donate money to charities and either you don’t know how or you just can’t find the time.

The way of the world today, means that we have less time to do the things that we would like to be able to do on a regular basis, but by taking out a Affinity credit card will give you the chance to give to a charity without having to change your lifestyle or diary.

If you would like to change to an Affinity credit card, then you can simply find one that has a balance transfer facility and switch to it that way, or just simply take out a new credit card that is associated to a charity of your choice and many of the top charities are attached to Affinity credit cards now, so you wont have to search to hard for one that maybe close to your heart or if you just feel that it is a worthwhile cause.

So how do they work? Quite simple really, for every purchase that you make the credit card issuer will pay a small donation towards the charity that is affiliated to the credit card, the % of these donations will probably seem quite trivial, but over the period of time that you have the credit card, the total will soon tot up and the charity will be more than happy with any donation that is made anyway, as any donation is seen as beneficial to them.

Also a lot of Affinity credit card issuers, will pay a one of fee to the charity when the credit card is first taken out, this ill be on top of the percentage that is donated from the cash hat is spent with the card, this fee could be worth as much as £15 to the charity.

The thing you should always remember about the Affinity credit cards is that they will more than likely have a higher interest charge than your normal credit card, so if you want to buy into one because of a certain charity organisation, make sure that the credit card suits you and you can pay it off in full at the end of each month, if not then it would be advisable to go for a Affinity credit card with a lower APR.

Some of these cards can range in interest charges of 12.3% to 17.9%, with the Halifax offering a quite attractive package of a blanket 12.9%, as they don’t have a risked based pricing as many of the others add to they’re credit cards.

Always remember that it is you who has to pay the bill, so making large purchases on the card just to make the charity more cash, will not help you it will only lead you into a debt that you cant pay back.