Comments on: Credit card companies can profit from Haiti donations all they want

By: chris

chris — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:38:42 +0000

I have to say I’m very disappointed with the culture of credit cards charging fees for charities.
Credit card companies make PROFITS from these transactions – they make millions of pounds for themselves. I once spoke to a charity representative who was trying to persuade me to subscribe to his charity. One of the things I asked is whether it is true that significantly less than the money donated actually makes its way to its orginal purpose – at least a quarter will be lost in the receiving countrys due to ‘admininstration fees’ for this and ‘admin fees’ for that and ‘tax’ for this – essentially, bribes. So I think to myself, what is the difference? Credit cards should make nor lose money for charity donations, but they make an absolute buckloads. Think about it – the charity donaters are paying for aid, and they are also filling the pockets of directors, chairmen, presidents, etc of credit cards.

By: SimplyForties

SimplyForties — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:17:40 +0000

Very good article. I wonder if the people who were angry about credit companies charging their normal fees (now waived) for charitable transactions would be willing to give up their rewards from the cards for those same transactions.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:23:46 +0000

Two things:

First, all of the major credit card companies have agreed to waive the fee for donations made for Haiti relief, so it’s a null issue for the current efforts.

Second, one of the things not mentioned in the article is that the “profit” banks make on these fees is not actually profit. It’s revenue. But there are costs and risks associated with making foreign transactions (which is what the fee is for – I notice the Huffington article never actually states the fee name – it’s not a “charity fee” as implied by the article) above and beyond domestic transactions. Foreign transactions means foreign currency trading, which have commissions and carry the risk of unfavorable arbitrage. The actual profit banks get from these fees is likely much less than the 3% they take in.

By: Credit Card Chaser

Credit Card Chaser — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:41:56 +0000

Great points and I wholeheartedly agree. I wrote something on the subject as well: http://www.creditcardchaser.com/are-credit-card-companies-evil-if-they-dont-waive-fees-on-haiti-donations/

By: Credit Girl

Credit Girl — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:59:04 +0000

I personally wouldn’t give through this kind of form because I like 100% of my proceeds to go to the cause but I understand the points that you make. And you’re right-$250 million isn’t that much to them but it could’ve been a lot to the relief efforts of Haiti.

By: Marie

Marie — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:56:17 +0000

I donate through Capital One’s no Hassle Giving Site. Its partnered with the network for Good and they eat the interchange fees giving 100% to the charity. Plus I get my rewards points on top of it.

My church is there – along with my Alma Mater and the local foodbank. For Haiti I was deciding between the Red Cross and UNICEF which are also both there. Plus I tell them they can’t give the charity any of my personal info which means I can’t get on SPAM lists.