New charity credit card launched

With charity cards becoming increasingly popular, Virgin Money have recently launched its own charity credit card, which give you the benefits of an ordinary credit card and the chance to donate to your favourite charity.

The Virgin Charity Credit Card allows you to give 0.8 per cent on each purchase you make to a charity of your choice, which can be increased to 1 per cent if you choose the Gift Aid option on your donation. This card is the first of its kind to offer this option, where charities reclaim the basic rate of tax from HMRC .

There is an annual percentage rate (APR) charge of 12.9 per cent on all purchases if you don't pay off the whole balance each month, while balance transfers offer a lower APR of 8.9 percent until the debt is cleared if the money must be transferred within the first 60 days of the account being opened, and there will be a 2 per cent transfer fee .

The card works in a similar way to a cashback credit card but the money accrued goes into a Virgin Money Giving account, rather than being credited back to you. However, there is no interest-free period with this product so you should aim to pay your balance off in full each month otherwise you will be charged interest.