Credit cards - how to drip-feed your favourite charity

MANAGE YOUR FINANCES WELL and the cards listed below will send pocket money to your favourite charity and cost you nothing.

The deal with most cards

The bank donates from £5 to £40 when you first use the card. Thereafter the slice is between 0.25 per cent and 0.5 per cent of your spend. Many banks also add around £2 for each year you keep using it.

Taking the panda

Some card companies like to keep the figures quiet; if in doubt, dig to find out the precise deal. After a bit of research we discovered that if you apply for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) card through the card company (MBNA), then the charity gets a £6 one-off donation, whereas if you apply for it through the WWF, it gets £40. This jaw-dropping discrepancy isn’t mentioned on either MBNA’s or WWF’s website. The charity gets a further £2 for every year that the card remains active as well as 0.4 per cent of everything you spend.

Click for the best charity card...

The Lamborghini of these cards is the American Express Red. It takes one per cent of your spend – over twice as much as the nearest competition - and sends it to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as endorsed by the world's most extraordinary (and strategic) philanthropist, Bill Gates.

The Co-op – more than just a credit card

Bank with the Co-Op and 0.125 per cent of everything you spend - on credit or debit card - goes to four charities voted by you and fellow account holders (and a larger percentage to the Co-op's ethical campaigns). So although the charity card deal is nothing to write home about, the advantage of running a regular account is significant. NB If you want your savings to be invested in charities and social enterprises and nothing else, visit Charity Bank.

Click for the very best deal...

If you're really keen... ...abandon these cards altogether and get yourself a cashback card. They work on the same principle – except that it’s you who’s the beneficiary, and the payback is much higher. The best cash-back card - Amex Platinum – gives you a three per cent back. Take this money and give it to your charity. Easy. But the question is, will you have the willpower not to keep it?

The cards

This is not yet an exhaustive list; it will grow. Each name links to the relevant company page. Many cards come in two or more versions: classic and wannabe platinum.

ActionAid

Amnesty International

Barnardo’s

Breakthrough Breast Cancer