When confronted with a human tragedy like the Haitian earthquake,the charity of the American people is prodigious. A movie star in Hollywood donates a million dollars; a seventh grade student in Toledo sells his Nintendo games and donates the money to the Red Cross. It seems as though everyone, except the millionaire Rush Limbaugh, is doing something to help.
But when we donate, we usually do so with credit cards, and the credit card companies are cashing in on our charity. "In some cases they keep 3% of the donation as a 'transaction fee,' even though that's far more than it costs them to process the donation." (MoveOn.org, 1/16/10)
I am not suggesting that we donors stop using credit cards for donations. The ease of credit card technology has helped all charities in their money-raising activities, but I am suggesting emailing your credit card company and asking them how much they are skimming off the top.If nothing else, it will inform them that you are aware of their greed. They could dispense with "transaction fees" for all charitable donations, and still be making their customary large profits on regular transactions.
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