New MBNA Charity Credit Card Helps Lesser-Known Charities

    MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, June 24, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Recent credit card industry figures revealed that MBNA's range of charity affinity credit cards are proving very popular with consumers.

The Bank of America subsidiary has affinity deals with the WWF, British Heart Foundation and the National Trust, all of whom receive a percentage of a purchase made by a card holder. But by far the most successful charity donation card is the MBNA Virgin charity credit card, which allows users to donate 1.02% of spending to the charities of their choice.

It's the only card in the MBNA range and indeed in the UK that allows the user to choose where the money goes, a route that is usually pre-destined by the affinity deal. Cardholders will see up to 1.02% donated to charity from their credit card purchase amount, a figure well above other charity credit cards, which average around 0.25% per donation.

The MBNA offering has been praised as a convenient way for card holders to support the good causes close to their heart and should also see lesser known charities benefit. Unlike most charity cards, the MBNA Virgin charity credit card will allow users to choose up to five charities to donate to, which can be changed at any point.

Speaking of the benefit of this flexibility to switch charities, a Virgin spokesperson said: "As an example, we have seen from the recent earthquake disaster in Haiti that people are keen to help in cases of dire need, and this card ensures they can react quickly."

A major reason for MBNA's latest charity card success is its ability to allow customers to add gift aid to their donation. It's the first UK credit card to do this and increases the amount donated through a transaction by a UK tax-payer by 28%. When compared with other charity cards on the market, the addition of a gift aid donation makes a huge difference:

MBNA Virgin Charity Card - up to 1.02%
Barclaycard Breathe Card - 0.5%
MBNA WWF Card - 0.4%
MBNA British Heart Foundation Card - 0.35%
MBNA National Trust Card- 0.3%
NSPCC Card- 0.3%

As the list shows, MBNA are the leaders in the provision of charity credit cards and their range contributes a hefty amount to the estimated GBP16.7m a year in donations raised through philanthropic plastic. The WWF alone have received over GBP10m as a result of their link-up with MBNA and many charities benefit from a one-off donation when the card is taken out. For example, the British Heart Foundation receives GBP50 when customers use their card for the first time, the WWF gets GBP40 and the National Trust receives GBP36.

All in all, the charity cards provided by MBNA are making a real difference to good causes and helping UK citizens to support charities close to their hearts. For more information or to apply for your charity credit card, visit http://www.MBNA.co.uk.

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