Credit Cards with A Cause Standout From Crowd

Good karma is in you and your wallet’s future with three standout credit card programs that turn your spending power into the power to give back. Whether it’s a green cause, a cause of your very own, or the fight against breast cancer, check out these credit cards and maybe you too can send good karma out into the world through your everyday spending.

While other credit cards continue to churn out cash back bonuses, travel miles, or reward points, these three cards caught my eye and my heart by offering consumers a chance to do good for a world beyond the shopping mall.

Good for the environment, good for your wallet

Help protect Mother Earth by shredding the not-so-eco-friendly credit cards you usually us to charge for purchases and start shopping with a biodegradable credit card from Discover. Jumping into the green movement with the first environmentally-conscious card of its kind, Discover provides consumers a bio-degradable card design that can be used with any Discover credit card. 99% of the special PVC material in the card’s plastic will breakdown in five years in landfill conditions, and if the trend catches on, will start to prevent the millions of discarded credit cards Americans go through a year from leaving a toxic effect on the environment. Do your part to save our environment and start charging for a greener tomorrow today.

Turning credit charges into fundraising

Raise money for your neighborhood Little League Team, your local Red Cross, or maybe your very own non-profit with the Capital One Card Lab Connect program. By using the program to support the cause you believe, your Capital One credit card becomes a convenient way to donate to the nonprofit or public organization of your choice anytime you shop. It works like this: nonprofits register for Card Lab Connect online, design credit cards unique to their organization, and then encourage their supporters to apply for their Capital One credit card; as a supporter of their organization, you simply sign up and open the nonprofit’s specific Capital One credit card, and 1% of all your net purchases, plus an additional $25 with the first purchase, will go directly to support your nonprofit. Capital One’s Card Lab Connect is the first to cater to nonprofit and public organizations of all sizes, from your living room book club to national nonprofit giants.

Bank of America has consumers seeing Pink in every purchase

Whether it’s using your credit or debit card, making purchases on Pink makes money to support Komen for the Cure. With every new pink ribbon-themed credit card, check card, or checking account opened, Bank of America will make a donation towards the fight against breast cancer. Bank of America has already pledged to donate more than $2 million to Komen for the Cure by the year 2011, and you can add-in your two cents by spending to promote breast cancer awareness and prevention. Think Pink and make every dollar you spend help bring us one step closer to saving countless of lives.

These three programs are the tip of the ever-growing iceberg in how credit card companies are finding value in helping cardholders do something more meaningful with their consumer power. Companies are beginning to see that going the extra mile to do a good deed is good for business, good for environment, and good for consumers. For consumers, those of us who did not think we have the time or resources to regularly support something we believe in now have an easy, no-hassle way of fitting charitable donations into our everyday lives. Cheers to putting a little bit of heart and a whole lot of warm, fuzzy feelings back into our plastic world.