Donate to charity every time you use your bank card???

[Gronnuck]

Apparently the grubbiment plans to increase public benevolence by asking people to make a donation to charity every time they use a cash dispenser or make a payment with their bank card. Details here (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8228620/Philanthropy-plan-donate-to-charity-every-time-you-pay-by-bank-card.html) Is this a good idea or a bad one? Will you feel an element of coercion is being used every time you use your card? Could this be a seen as a sneaky 'tax' to fund services that have had their government funding cut back? Could this confuse older people and the more vulnerable?

[The Drunken Duck]

This is getting beyond a joke. Charity means giving because you want to, not being pressured into it. There seems to be a new wave of ads lately designed to make you feel guilty and pony up cash to every charity under the sun. Even the Blood Tranfusion Service is at it. I cant walk down Union St in Aberdeen without some annoying twenty something jumping out and asking me for three quid a month for something like they were my best mate. Charity donations are a gift, not a right. Its about time people realised that instead of expecting more, more and more from an increasingly cash strapped public. Anyway doesnt the Government take OUR cash and donate it as Foreign Aid ??, dont see them asking for our opinion on that.

This is just designed to guilt people into giving. Say you are paying in a crowded Tesco .. "Would you like to make a little payment to charity with your cashback ??" .. "No", makes you look tight doesn't it ??, and there are a lot of people who will just to avoid looking mean. As you say Gronnuck like the elderly and perhaps people who will just feel that they cannot say no.

Pretty sickening proposal to be honest.

[EDDIE]

What the government should do is if anyone gets a voucher as a present if they dont use it and it expires the money should go to charity and not to the company for more profit i bet that would raise millions

[Kodiak]

This is one of the few times I am happy that I do not have a Bank Card or a Credit Card. Since I only pay for things by cash this silly idea should not be a problem for me. :D

[John Little]

You vill gif to 'charity' vether you vant to to or not. Vee have vays.......

[billmoseley]

i choose who i give my money to not the government. i always give to local ones too then you can see results

[The Drunken Duck]

You vill gif to 'charity' vether you vant to to or not. Vee have vays.......

*adopts Britsh stiff upper lip*

I would rather go to the cooler .. lead on Fritz !!

[ducati]

Calm down dudes, it's just another collecting tin, charities need money all the time to do whatever they do. It's just a way of helping raise more that's all.

[Blarney]

It's something akin to folk sitting inside supermarkets collecting for charity. I do give to my favourite charities but try not to be embarrassed into giving to others that I don't want to support.
However, I had a guy at the door a few weeks ago on behalf of the Red Cross if I remember correctly. He wanted me to set up a direct debit to pay them a regular amount! When I offered to make a cash donation it was refused. I know that if he hadn't got the authority to take it he was right to do so but surely this is moving into a strange new realm if charities are refusing cash but want to sign people up to donate. They must be losing out on spontaneous donations.

[you]

I do not think it will be a compulsory donation. Just a request. Could be wrong though. Will cause a lot of work for the card companies, retail etc outlets and banks - will they charge more for using cards?

[pat]

thought the Lottery was going to answer many of the charity woes when it started how many years ago
I personally give to the charities I want.
The charities which get you to donate on the street, supermarket or door to door by signing up with your bank info - the folk doing it are usually being paid £90 for every person they sign up, think about it, they usually try to get you to sign for example a dog for £2 a week. In a year you will pay £104 - only £14 goes to the charity, the hope is that you will continue to pay after a year but many cancel before the year. Discovered this from 2 people staying with me who were signing folk up in the local Tesco, they were saying how generous the folk here were - the folk signing are not used to this type of selling and thought all money collected was going to the charity.
Certainly watch where I put my money and energy.