January 21st, 2010 by Reed Allmand 
Credit card companies are making millions of dollars from the Haiti earthquake disaster in the form of service fees attached to each donation made to charitable organizations. But there is currently a movement underway to force the credit card companies to waive fees on charitable donations. Credit card companies charge 1%-3% for each transaction. What that means is that every time you make a donation, credit card companies make a profit. These fees contribute $45 billion in revenue for credit card companies–$250 million of these profits come from charitable contributions.
The progressive non-profit MoveOn.org solicited members to sign a petition Friday requesting that credit card companies waive processing fees for charitable donations. “Credit card companies shouldn’t be getting rich off of Americans’ generosity. They should waive all fees on charitable contributions from today on,” the petition reads.
So far 214,000 people have signed the petition demanding that credit card companies stop profiting from disasters such as Haiti and charitable contributions. In response, Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover announced they will waive some of the Haiti-related fees for the near future. But their pledge falls short of the petitioners’ demands. For those who donate, the idea of credit card companies profiting from their charitable contributions can be nauseating. It’s quite interesting that while credit card companies pledge donations to those offering relief to Haiti they refuse to fully waive fees that are levied against the donations of others. Basically credit card companies are making “show donations” while “secretly” profiting from disaster. Please tell us what you think? Should credit card companies be allowed to profit from disaster?
About Reed Allmand
Allmand's vision is rooted in his own financially precarious childhood in Abilene "My father always had difficulty holding a job and supporting our family, so after my parents divorced when I was 12, my sister and I got jobs to help make ends meet," he recalls. "I remember what it felt like as a child to worry that our car would be repossessed or home foreclosed on."
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