Money News
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Football fans can use affinity savings accounts to save money and help their favourite club at the same time. But are the deals on offer any good or should they be given the red card?
Affinity schemes offer branded financial products to members or supporters of particular organisations. They were once the preserve of trade unions but are now more commonly associated with sports teams, good causes and even political parties. Primarily offered by building societies, affinity accounts allow people to automatically donate part of the interest on their accounts to sports clubs or good causes, making it easy to give to their chosen cause.
Rachel Thrusell, head of savings at moneyfacts.co.uk, says the affinity account market is still dominated by sporting causes, but charity affinity accounts are beginning to grow in popularity. Today, you can choose from 32 accounts which donate funds to a variety of charities, ranging from worldwide causes to local based charities. But whats in it for the consumer? Not much if you look at some of the interest rates offered by affinity accounts on the market at the moment.
Britannia Building Society, for example, offers Tottenham Hotspurs mortgages and savings accounts. But despite promising premier rates of interest, the accounts are low scorers and should be relegated. Balances of between £100 and £1,000 only receive an interest rate of 2.6% while savers with more than £50,000 in the affinity account receive a mere 3.12% AER.
Compare this to Principality Building Society's e-saver account which launched this week and its clearly foul play. The new online account is available from Monday 19th March and for a minimum balance of £1 pays savers a highly competitive rate of 5.60% AER, only narrowly beaten by the table-topping Icesave account from Icelandic bank Landsbanki which pays 5.7%.
READ MORE: Here we go - saving for your football team
15 July 2008 © Moneyextra.com
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