Charge for Change
(Part of my Green This House program.)
This Treehugger post made me rethink the plastic in my pocket, and how I could get my expenses to align even more closely with my ideologies. (My Amex gets regularly put through its paces because I’m quite lax at remembering to withdraw enough physical greenbacks. Since I’ve decided to live more frugally, however, my desire to splurge those accumulated points on the latest knitting hardcover or gift certificates to the Gap has all but petered out. Frankly, it’s been absolutely liberating.)
From Co-Op America’s Nov/Dec 2005 article on responsible credit cards:
Perhaps the greenest affinity card available is the Working Assets Visa card, which donates ten cents with every purchase to your choice of one of 50 nonprofits. It offers a 9.9 percent APR, with no annual fee. Working Assets also aims to serve as a progressive political force, dedicated to giving its customers the opportunity to speak out on critical public issues through its action Web site, www.actforchange.com, and long-distance telephone program. Recent actions included a call to Apple Computer to take back its used products (it recently agreed to take back old iPods). Each month, Working Assets customers generate over 80,000 calls and letters to politicians on social and environmental issues, says the company.
One caveat: Working Assets Visa is issued by MBNA, which has made large contributions to the Republican party and has been accused by consumers of predatory practices. The card used to be issued by Fleet One, but MBNA purchased the Working Assets program from Fleet.
Michael Kieschnick, Working Assets president, believes that the good his company does offsets any negatives from its association with MBNA: “Even though we did not select MBNA and have explicitly opposed their primary legislative agenda, we do believe that our program contributes significantly to progressive social change. Our credit card itself, since inception, has generated about $6 million in donations to progressive causes,” he says.
I submitted my application online and expect to hear from them within the month. Now, how to break the news gently to American Express without giving anyone nosebleeds?
aleta said,
May 23, 2006 at 9:17 pm
I’ve had one of these guys since 2002, when it was still owned by Fleet. I was not happy when they switched to MBNA, and because I missed a payment, my interest rate is way high so I can’t use it anymore. Are there other socially conscious credit cards out there?