Charity that welcomes monthly £1 DDs ...

soulsaver

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/73338711#Comment_73338711

See post #393 in Tesco DDs thread above..

MPN

I always use Marie Curie and Cancer Research because they accept a £1 per month donation. Just did it for the £250 from Yorkshire Bank and then you can cancel them after you receive the switch fee. I have done this with many accounts that require DD's and at least you are making a small donation to charity.

bowlhead99

MPN wrote: »

and then you can cancel them after you receive the switch fee. I have done this with many accounts that require DD's and at least you are making a small donation to charity.

Between them, Cancer Research and Marie Curie bring in between 800 and 900 million pounds a year. And while Cancer Research has funded some interesting projects I can't help thinking that there is hundreds of billions of dollars out there in the private sector being invested in developing cancer treatments because of the huge financial incentive to uncover something groundbreaking before your rival does.

So the idea that you will give them a pound a month - much of which will be eaten in admin and processing costs -as part of a short term effort to con your bank into thinking you have made a genuine switch to their services... but really just to grab some of the bank's marketing money by way of enhanced interest or a welcome payment and then you will dump both the charity and the bank to maximise your own wealth instead of theirs... seems somewhat morally off-kilter. And £12 a year to cancer research less 50% processing costs doesn't seem like it will do much to save the world other than what was going to happen to the world anyway.

I mean, sure, you're being a money saving (or money earning) expert - but don't kid yourself that "at least I'm giving to charity". What you are doing is abusing the fact that the charity is willing to accept small DDs in the hope that the money they spend processing them and printing leaflets to send to your house to ask for more etc, will pay off with you actually giving them a decent amount some day.

If you do the "£1 to charity trick" then please do actually follow it up with some real money to that charity or one close to your heart at the end of the year. Especially if you have so much surplus money to stuff in your bank accounts that you are having to "fabricate" new ways to appear to be spending it to get your hands on higher interest rates from other banking institutions that you intend to cancel and dump once they are not paying the very highest rates in the land.

£4 or £8 or £16 a month is £5 or £10 or £20 after gift aid and at that level you are paying more than their bank payment processing costs and thankyou note printing costs and actually getting into the realms of maybe making some kind of difference (depending on the charity chosen).

Alexland

I agree, having previously spent 3 years volunteering for a charity one day a week, you are costing the charity more in one-off processing costs (setup, reacting to the switch then closing) than they will ever gain in the slim margin they will gain in the short period you will be contributing. It's morally dubious as they are poorer as a result of your transactions.

The only reason they take the donation is to appear open to everyone (some people cannot afford much more and if they turn it down people would assume they have enough money already) and hope to persuade you to increase the value over time. If it ran for enough years unchanged it is possible they may get some small benefit.

soulsaver

Alexland wrote: »

I agree, having previously spent 3 years volunteering for a charity one day a week, you are costing the charity more in one-off processing costs (setup, reacting to the switch then closing) than they will ever gain in the slim margin they will gain in the short period you will be contributing. It's morally dubious as they are poorer as a result of your transactions.

The only reason they take the donation is to appear open to everyone (some people cannot afford much more and if they turn it down people would assume they have enough money already) and hope to persuade you to increase the value over time. If it ran for enough years unchanged it is possible they may get some small benefit.

For those that follow the link, you'll appreciate I've clarified that even £1 per month is beneficial to this charity... but I'm equally sure they won't want the additional admin cost of setting it up and cancelling it again after the first 1 or 2 is effected .

Alexland

Charities don't like to admit they have admin costs and need to keep up the pretence that every penny counts.

Sally57

I've got to agree with the moral issue of using charities for DD,however, I have heard Martin Lewis himself recommending this on several occasions when people don't have enough DD's!

I certainly don't feel sorry for the banks, if people keep switching for incentives (again Martin Lewis recommends this continuously) so for bowlhead99 to say 'as part of a short term effort to con your bank into thinking you have made a genuine switch to their services... ' is a bit far fetched!

Out of interest, does anybody else feel sorry for the banks when people use the switch service purely for the incentives?

le_loup

Sally57 wrote: »

I've got to agree with the moral issue of using charities for DD,however, I have heard Martin Lewis himself recommending this on several occasions

Oh my goodness!
If Our Lord Martin says it's OK, then it must be.