Credit Card companies are taking 3% of every dollar donated to Haiti

[Cyrano]

Each time you use your credit card, the seller (not you) has to pay a fee to the credit card company. I don't know if it's 3%, but that's what they're charging on contributions to Haiti.

Using your credit card to donate to Haiti is a windfall to the scum that run credit card companies. They are profiting from the most horrible of circumstances imaginable. Would it be too much for them to wave their fee this once?

While it's never a good idea to wish ill on others, I can't say that I would be saddened if, some day, some credit card "Master of the Universe" finds himself or herself buried beneath a building felled by an earthquake.

[hlthe2b]

1. someone posted yesterday that Visa & AMEX were waiving

fees for Haiti related contributions... Master Card was not listed...

As far as I know, this remains so. :shrug:

[Stephanie]

They have waived the fees:

http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/some-card-fees-waived-for-haiti-aid/

[Codeine]

2. Not so.

The four majors have waived fees for most Haitian charities.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/15/credit-card-companies-wai_n_425364.html

[Cyrano]

6. If true, the info in my post is not up to date

Even so, why did it take a public outcry for them to wave the fee?

I guess we should be grateful that they're nor looking for ways to profit from the countless poor souls who died in Haiti.

[Statistical]

3. 3% discount rate? unlikely

large organizations ($1 mil+ in sales/donations) pay about 1% to 1.5%.

Also looks like they waived the fees to any international aid organization (UNICEF, Red Cross, etc).
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hEjW7jvSPmjwKEv36W0f37zXbbEw

[demosincebirth]

4. when I heard about the CCs, which they do on every charge, doing that

to charities, I sent a check .

[Statistical]

9. Then bank charges them a check cashing fee.

Large organizations don't get free check cashing. They pay a transaction fee for each checked cleared.

Of course it also takes long for funds to clear so the money gets to field slower.

[doc03]

5. It is the same with any purchase you make with a

Credit card. If I buy gas with my store Credit card at $3.00 a gallon the Credit card company takes 9 cents they keep 6 and I get 3 cents on my purchase at the store. The guy that gets screwed is the gas station owner. A friend that owns a station told me the bank was getting more profit from a gallon of gas then he was, he quit taking cards and cut his price.

[Political Heretic]

7. Actually, as reported on CNN, MSNBC, many CC companies have waived those takings

for donations to charitable organizations during this crisis.

That's the claim.

I trust Credit Card companies about as far as I can throw Mt. Everest, so take that for whatever its worth.

[gulliver]

8. Which should in no way affect the decision to donate by card.

I don't know whether what you are saying even applies. But I don't think it is a good idea to do anything to discourage donations by credit card for any reason. It's a fast way to get the money where it is needed.

[sifter]

10. give non-perishable food, clothes, goods, etc. vs money

Instead of worrying about all the overhead that some charities have (some areas of American Red Cross are still at 51%, but overall the org. is about 11%) why not overwhelm your local red cross, or favorite charity which is delivering goods to haiti- with actual hard goods?

Clothes, food, diapers, living supplies, etc. That way you can 'feel good' that you donated, but you aren't putting
your $ into supporting some of the exorbitant overheads that some of the charities have. I remember a few years ago
with the tsunami's the ARC or some other charities were like "no don't send 'stuff' send money".... well, I say send stuff. It's not like the ARC or whoever is going to take your donation and go across the street in haiti and buy some supplies and hand them out. No matter what, it's going to take a bit to get supplies in there by boat, or planes etc. If you want to see what your charity is made of... donate goods and see how they deal with it.

You can also use this search to decide if your favorite charity has too much overhead for your tastes or not.

https://www.cfcnca.org/donate/?results&q=red+cross&s=LNI&o=0,110">Combined Federal Campaign Search

[bigwillq]

11. Hello.

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[sifter]

12. Thank You

thank you