This Credit Card Lets You Donate Your Cash Back Rewards To Charity

Americans failed to use around $16 billion in loyalty rewards in 2010 alone — that’s almost a third of the total rewards points U.S. households earned that year, gone entirely to waste. Charity Charge, a public benefit corporation, lets people donate those otherwise-wasted points to a higher purpose.

Existing affinity cards also allow people to make a donation with each purchase, but often the return isn’t as high. Bank of America’s Susan G. Komen card, for instance, which gives part of every purchase to the breast cancer foundation, donates only 0.08 percent, according to the Chicago Tribune. So, if you were to stack up a $10,000 credit card bill, the charity would get $8. The same amount spent on the Charity Charge card would generate a $100 donation.

Importantly, Charity Charge also underwrites the ?donation processing fees, according to their website, so the full donation amount goes to the nonprofit.