Give as you spend. (Bank of Scotland)

Member Name: marcusbutcher

Product:	Bank of Scotland
Date:	03/08/01 (130 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No annual charge, Supports good causes, Win prizes!

Disadvantages: How much have I donated?

I have had a Bank of Scotland Master Card for a couple of years now and have never had any trouble with it. There is no annual charge (which is great) and, as it's an affinity card, for every £100 I spend, 25p is donated to the good cause of my choice (the Red Cross). I'm not sure if every good cause is supported but I think there's quite a wide variety and I certainly think more credit cards should offer this feature.

Also with the Bank of Scotland, there are regular competitions with prizes such as holidays to be won. The number of times you've used your card in the month running up to the draw = the number of entries you have in the draw. This is a nice way to reward cardholders for their loyalty and, in the (highly unlikely) event of my winning one of these contests, I will be very happy that I chose a Bank of Scotland Master Card. And even if I don't win, I'm still happy with my choice and use my Bank of Scotland card a lot more than any of my other cards.

The only criticism I have is that they don't tell you how much has been donated to your chosen charity on your behalf; it would be pretty simple to add this information to the monthly statement and I can't see why they haven't done this.

As with most other credit cards, there is no interest to pay if you pay off your monthly balance in full and, as it's a Master Card, it can be used all over the world: I've used it in France, America and Greece and haven't had any trouble at all.

Summary: