univcity  

[UC] FW: Visa takes a cut of your generosity

Karen Allen
Sun, 17 Jan 2010 10:50:25 -0800

Please sign the petition if you agree that it is outrageous to profit from 
tragedy.
 


Date: Sat, 16 Jan 2010 07:33:27 -0800
From: moveon-h...@list.moveon.org
To: kallena...@msn.com
Subject: Visa takes a cut of your generosity











Clicking here will sign your name: 




"Credit card companies shouldn't be getting rich off of Americans' generosity. 
They should waive all fees on charitable contributions from today on." 

Sign the petitionDear MoveOn member, 
As the tragedy in Haiti unfolds, Americans are generously donating millions of 
dollars to aid organizations.

But when Americans donate to charity with their credit cards, the credit card 
companies get rich. 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.

It's outrageous and wrong—and it needs to stop. 

Can you sign this petition to the CEOs of the major credit card companies 
demanding that they waive their processing fees for all charitable donations? 
Clicking here will add your name:

http://pol.moveon.org/nofees/o.pl?id=18607-7067837-zjnqdyx&t=3

The petition says: "Credit card companies shouldn't be getting rich off of 
Americans' generosity. They should waive all fees on charitable contributions 
from today on."

The credit card companies are trying to get ahead of this story, announcing 
they will temporarily waive the fees they charge on some Haiti-related 
charitable contributions for the next 6 weeks. But that's nowhere near enough. 
Many emergency donations to Haiti will still get hit with hefty bank fees. (To 
give a sense of how limited the exemption is, Doctors Without Borders isn't on 
any of the publicly available lists of charities that won't be charged fees.)2 
 
All American credit card companies should announce that they will waive ALL 
fees on charitable contributions, starting today, and going forward for good. 
This isn't about helping political organizations like MoveOn, just helping true 
charitable organizations.  


It's the right thing to do, and honestly, it's the least they could do after 
the role they played in crashing the entire global economy last year.


But they won't do it unless they know how angry Americans are that they're 
profiting off of this terrible tragedy. Click here to sign the petition, which 
we'll deliver to the heads of the major credit card companies:

http://pol.moveon.org/nofees/o.pl?id=18607-7067837-zjnqdyx&t=5 
Thanks for all you do.
–Daniel, Kat, Peter, Lenore, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "As Wallets Open For Haiti, Credit Card Companies Take A Big Cut," The 
Huffington Post, January 14, 2010 
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=86028&id=18607-7067837-zjnqdyx&t=6

2. "Some Card Fees Waived for Haiti Aid," The New York Times, January 14, 2010 
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=86030&id=18607-7067837-zjnqdyx&t=7 


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PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized 
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  • [UC] FW: Visa takes a cut of your generosity Karen Allen