The biggest UK affinity card issuer the Bank of Scotland has cards linked to organisations as diverse as Battersea

The biggest UK affinity card issuer, the Bank of Scotland, has cards linked to organisations as diverse as Battersea Dogs Home, the Constabulary Travel Club, Millwall Football Club and even the National Federation of Fish Fryers.More organisations are jumping on the card bandwagon all the time. In the caring Nineties, however, credit cards have taken on a less selfish slant. The past few years have seen a boom in affinity cards – credit cards that pay a donation to the charity or organisation of your choice every time you use the card. Moreover, for card users who pay off their bill every month, these cards can be competitive with anything else available.
You can now get a credit card linked to one of more than 400 charities, political parties and other organisations.

For example, River & Mercantile income shares currently offer investors an 11.1 per cent average gross return for the next four years or so to the wind-up date – even if there is no further income or capital growth in the trust’s underlying assets. And the income shares of Fulcrum and Throgmorton Dual trusts are described as “ridiculously cheap”.Two important tips are to look to hold shares you buy to maturity, otherwise you may lose out because of price changes in the interim. And unless you need the income paid out, keep it in your PEP and recycle it into a different investment Again, you should take advice on this.. IN THE Eighties, excess was all The bigger the wodge of plastic in your wallet, the better. But even after this, a typical example of these shares might give a holder total investment returns averaging at least 10 per cent a year.”We are very bullish,” says John Szymanowski, investment trust analyst at SBC Warburg “Dividends are rising and income is going up. The returns look really good, even on a no-dividend growth assumption.

Some shares are very, very cheap.”Bill Fowler, of Gerard Vivian Gray Asset Management, a company that specialises in managing investment trust portfolios, adds: “The overall return that some shares offer is incredibly good. For example, gilts [government stock] currently offer 6 to 8 per cent. A typical income share on very modest assumptions about dividend growth will give gross redemption yields [annual total payback to maturity] of 12 or 15 per cent.”SBC Warburg now has a long list of “buy” recommendations, which is available through many independent financial advisers. However, as the end-of-tax-year PEP deadline looms this week, some stockbrokers say these shares could make suitable investments for PEPs that let you choose what to tuck away. This is because these shares pay high incomes that, via a PEP, will be tax-free.
The catch in these split capital investments is the inbuilt capital losses or limitations, which mean that, in effect, part of the high income comprises the return of some of your original investment. But there may be a case for buying a second-hand endowment – as with Clerical, the prospect of special bonuses may not be in the price. Alternatively, you could buy shares in the Life Office Opportunities Trust (Loot) run by Edinburgh-based manager Scottish Value This buys policies that stand to yield special bonuses..

INVESTORS wanting income should look at investment trust shares, say analysts. The launch of a number of new investment trust funds has helped depress the prices of existing trusts, giving the prospect of good returns at lower-than-average risk. Many of these are complicated and unusual investments – high-dividend shares that offer limited capital returns or that, in some cases, will be worth next to nothing after a few years, so it is essential to take advice. Life policies are long-term commitments and by comparison any bonus may not amount to much.

The value of the special bonuses may well not be reflected in the prices of second-hand policies simply because the full detail of these bonuses is not yet known.It is unlikely to be worth taking out a new policy from other insurers simply on the off-chance of a windfall. In the meantime there is a 24-hour information line on 0800 100555.Who is next?Friends Provident, Scottish Provident, NPI, Scottish Amicable, Scottish Life, and Scottish Widows could all be among the mutual targets in the sights of potential predators, including Abbey National, Sun Alliance and Woolwich building society.Should I buy a policy in the hope of a windfall?There’s no point buying a new Clerical Medical policy in the hope of benefiting directly from the takeover – you have already missed the 22 March deadline.However, firms selling second-hand policies say prices of Clerical policies have only risen slightly since the insurer publicly put itself up for sale. Detailed proposals will follow in late May, and the vote in June. And the mutuals have probably done an even worse job than the building societies in marketing the supposed benefits of mutuality.What happens next?A letter explaining the deal went out to Clerical Medical policyholders last week. After the five-year cost guarantee, for example, the Halifax could significantly bump up charges, with consequent reductions in investment returns.The loss of one mutual life insurer is not really a cause for mourning There are still far too many of them, say analysts. Policyholders can also take some comfort from the fact that the proposals are supported by an independent actuary as being fair.