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TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

treecard.org

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Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#41

Post by jsjohnst »

Symbiote wrote: post #12
chrisseaton wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't have the same legal protections for their use. There's hardly ever any reason to use a debit card over a credit card.

In the EU, there are lower charges for the merchant when a debit card is used. Sometimes, this results in a small charge for using a credit card. (Note that TreeCard is an English company, where they have inherited this cost difference.)

> In the EU, there are lower charges for the merchant when a debit card is used.

This is definitely the case in the US. The fees vary between different acquiring banks, merchant gateways and cards, but generally they follow a pattern similar to the following:

CC - $0.25 + 1-4% of the transaction amount

Debit - $0.25 - 0.50 and no percentage

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#42

Post by ghgdynb1 »

zrail wrote: post #11
eatonphil wrote: post #8

How it works: > No. Zero fees. TreeCard will be 100% free to use. > Every time you use your TreeCard, Mastercard processes the transaction and charges merchants (online and physical stores) a small fee. This is a standard fee paid by all merchants to1 accept card payments. We'll use that fee to plant trees. I'm confused though. Surely this fee Mastercard charges goes to Mastercard, not the card company? https://www.t…

The keyword is "interchange". (disclosure: I work for Stripe but this is my own recollection of how this all works and could be wrong in the details) There are multiple parties at play in a card network transaction: 0. The card holder 1. The card brand (TreeCard) 2. The issuing bank (unknown right now, but this is usually a bank like HSBC, Citi, Wells Fargo, etc) 3. The card network itself (MasterCard) 4. The merchan…

If you want to know why the Collison brothers are so rich, it’s because they were the only deeply technical guys who also had the ability, interest, and energy to deal with all this.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#43

Post by rahimiali »

I tried to sign up for their wait list but gave up after entering my real name, a fake date of birth, and a fake phone number, which means I couldn't get their verification code. I understand asking for demographic info to prioritize a wait list, but that's not what they're asking.

why do they need all this info for a wait list of a service they don't yet provide? this doesn't inspire confidence.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#45

Post by jasonv »

chrisseaton wrote: post #6
slekker wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why dicey?

They don't have the same legal protections for their use. There's hardly ever any reason to use a debit card over a credit card.

Not relevant since people use debit cards all day long.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#46

Post by klyrs »

Nbox9 wrote: post #36

Ecosia, the company backing TreeCard, has a search engine that plants trees. Ecosia has claimed to have planted 116M trees. Several environmentalists have come out in support of the product — and specifically in support of the way Ecosia uses partners to plant trees on Ecosia’s behalf and the way Ecosia keeps their partners accountable. I personally will have a hard time saying good-bye to my credit card rewards. How…

> It’s also worth noting that while planting trees is very good for the environment, it is not a silver bullet against climate change.

Not buying things is better for the environment. Projects like this are brimming with good intention but are little better than salve for consumer guilt.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#47

Post by JoeAltmaier »

klyrs wrote: post #46
Nbox9 wrote: post #36

Ecosia, the company backing TreeCard, has a search engine that plants trees. Ecosia has claimed to have planted 116M trees. Several environmentalists have come out in support of the product — and specifically in support of the way Ecosia uses partners to plant trees on Ecosia’s behalf and the way Ecosia keeps their partners accountable. I personally will have a hard time saying good-bye to my credit card rewards. How…

> It’s also worth noting that while planting trees is very good for the environment, it is not a silver bullet against climate change. Not buying things is better for the environment. Projects like this are brimming with good intention but are little better than salve for consumer guilt.

Yeah but objecting to every attempt to do good because, it doesn't go far enough! Is a recipe for doing nothing.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#48

Post by briandear »

chrisseaton wrote: post #21
TeMPOraL wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better secured and you're using the money you have vs. taking a loan? I ditched my CCs as soon as debit cards could be reliably used for on-line purchases. And AFAIK, the no.1 personal finance advice is "stop using CCs". I'm in Europe, though. That may be an European thing.

> you're using the money you have vs. taking a loan? Why would you want to use the money you have when you can take a free loan until the end of the month? A free loan means you can keep your own money invested or otherwise working more efficiently for you somehow. > the no.1 personal finance advice is "stop using CCs" I've never seen this - I see 'use CC's more to build up your credit'. I use my cards religiously an…

The problem is that most people lack discipline and run up debt. Using CCs is fine if you are extremely disciplined.

Dave Ramsey made a career out of teaching “normal” undisciplined people how to avoid and eliminate debt and that includes the advice of “never ever use credit cards or get loans.” A 15 year home mortgage with 20% or more down is the only acceptable debt in his eyes. (And that’s because human nature often leads people into debt, not because of any mathematical basis.) For the majority of “normal” people, he’s right.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#49

Post by Jommi »

lol768 wrote: post #24
capableweb wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is location dependent though. A easy way to see if someone is from the US, is if they advice you to prefer credit cards rather than debit cards. Meanwhile in Europe, there is no reason to have a credit card instead of debit. On the contrary, it's more risky to have a credit card rather than debit as on debit cards the limit for overdraft is usually way lower than how much someone could spend with your credit car…

> This is location dependent though Definitely true. > Meanwhile in Europe, there is no reason to have a credit card instead of debit Ehh, I'm not sure I'd agree 100% with this one. You can certainly get by with just a debit card (and enjoy the access to e.g. the chargeback scheme) but I find credit cards a useful tool to build credit (and my credit history built up by never missing a CC payment undoubtedly helped me…

Building credit is not a thing in most european countries.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#50

Post by snarfy »

klyrs wrote: post #46
Nbox9 wrote: post #36

Ecosia, the company backing TreeCard, has a search engine that plants trees. Ecosia has claimed to have planted 116M trees. Several environmentalists have come out in support of the product — and specifically in support of the way Ecosia uses partners to plant trees on Ecosia’s behalf and the way Ecosia keeps their partners accountable. I personally will have a hard time saying good-bye to my credit card rewards. How…

> It’s also worth noting that while planting trees is very good for the environment, it is not a silver bullet against climate change. Not buying things is better for the environment. Projects like this are brimming with good intention but are little better than salve for consumer guilt.

What are we supposed to do? Live in trees? Build everything ourselves from raw resources we mined with our own hands?

If you want any kind of advancement in civilization you need commerce.

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