Virgin Cashback Card

[Deleted User]

Just out of interest, why does nobody seem to talk about the Virgin Charity Card as a cashback card?

Despite the name, you can use it to get 0.8% cashback for yourself on all purchases (it doesn't have to go to charity), and it's got no annual fee.

Yet it doesn't get discussed, and it doesn't appear on the MSE page of cashback cards...

jonesMUFCforever

Perhaps becaues it would be morally wrong to get a charity cashback card and then keep the cashback?

There are better cashback cards available anyway.

bengalknights

Its not one of the better CB cards

jamesd

Little reason to discuss it if there are 1% cashback cards available. Why bother with it when you can get 1% instead?

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

It does have an 8.9% LOB offer which might be of interest to some.

http://uk.virginmoney.com/virgin/charity-credit-card/

[Deleted User]

jamesd wrote: »

Little reason to discuss it when there are 1% cashback cards available. Why bother with it when you can get 1% instead?

Which card gives 1% on all spending without an annual fee?

SCO

I have the Halifax Clarity Reward when i spend £300 per month it gives me £5 which i think equates to about 1.6%, no fee.

I also have the AA reward plus (no longer available) it gives me 3% on fuel purchases and 1% on everything else, no fee.

Most cashback cards have no anual fee, there are only a couple that charge because they know most savvy people wont pay a fee.

jamesd

billbennett wrote: »

Which card gives 1% on all spending without an annual fee?

The Barclaycard Cashback card can do that or more, depending on spending patterns. 2% on the five highest value purchases each month provided you make at least 15 uses total, 0.5% on the rest. The 2% rises to 4% once a year and 6% in the first three months.

I don't know of any straight 1% cards for new customers at the moment, the Virgin card you mentioned comes closest.

Gromitt

jamesd wrote: »

The Barclaycard Cashback card can do that or more

The Barclaycard Cashback card has a £24/year fee though.

I also don't know that many people that use the card 15 times every month to get the benefits.

jamesd

True about the fee. I hope that most people interested in 1% cashback already have a card and that there will be a new deal along soon for those who don't.

Using a card 15 times a month can be easy to arrange if you can pay your council tax by credit card. I rarely do fifteen normal card transactions a month so I'd have to game the system.

I've edited my initial reply because I was wrongly thinking that there were 1% fee free deals available to new customers and there don't seem to be any at the moment. Thanks for the correction!

aleph_0

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Perhaps becaues it would be morally wrong to get a charity cashback card and then keep the cashback?

There are better cashback cards available anyway.

I'm not sure why it's morally wrong. Virgin have made the product to enhance their own brand, so they can quote this money as given to charity thanks to their product. I'm not sure people taking out the cash, and then using it as they see fit (which might include giving to charity) as particularly wrong in comparison to this. I guess the only risk is that it would cause virgin to withdraw the card, which would then harm charities?

The charity credit card market is a strange one, it uses people's desire to do good to make a profit out of them. Some might also be attracted to the fact that the card is branded, so advertises to others the fact that you are helping charity.

The virgin card has no obvious charity-related branding, and a good APR, and a good cashback rate. If it was featured in Martin's article, many people would still choose to assign the cashback to charity.


IMO, the cashback article has things all the wrong way around. Ignoring the introductory bonus, one has to spend £22,000/year on the Capital one before it beats a 1% card.

For simple reasonable cashback, the Virgin card, the aqua card, or the 1% reward cards (Amazon, BHS, Play, etc.) would be useful to most.

The Capital One and Amex are then useful to those who want to play bonus chasing, or ditching and switching after the bonus. People should still be encouraged to play this game, but only after they're aware of the simple solutions.