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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

#61

Post by elric »

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…

> Why would you want to use the money you have when you can take a free loan until the end of the month?

Because it's usually not free. Most banks charge some fee for providing a credit card. Debit cards are completely free with most banks.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#62

Post by war1025 »

xwdv wrote: post #28
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.

The no.1 personal finance advice is pay your credit card balance in full every month. The exception is when you have a credit card offering a 0% interest promotional period. As long as your overall credit utilization is low, you can pay the minimum each month to maximize the amount of time your money sits collecting interest. I usually pick up a new 0% promo card every year to get cheap financing for large purchases…

The amount of interest a savings account is going to accrue in that time is negligible to the point of being worthless.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#63

Post by knutwannheden »

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.

Very well said! It appears like the other commenters deliberately try to misinterpret you. Consuming less is indeed one of the best things we can do.

Instead of buying new cheap clothes all the time to be trendy we should buy quality clothing and wear it for a long time. Repair it (and other things we buy) or sell it or give it away rather than dispose of.

Here in Europe things are moving in the right direction, but still too slowly, I am afraid.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#65

Post by xyst »

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…

Looking at this chain of middlemen between the buyer and seller, it's a bit nauseating. No wonder products cost so much.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#66

Post by darawk »

klyrs wrote: post #52
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

A card that leaks crude oil on every purchase would be more effective (if ridiculous from an engineering/logistical perspective) -- salves for consumer guilt aren't merely not doing enough, they're enabling the behavior that's doing the most harm.

How exactly would a card that leaks crude oil be more effective? Leaking crude oil is terrible for the environment. Planting trees is good for it.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#67

Post by darawk »

VoxPelli wrote: post #54

Is it just me who dislike being incentivized like this to do something? By having someone do a totally unrelated donation to charity when I do something? I much rather do X because X itself is good than because X will have someone do Y and have me consider X to be good because Y is good. It is essentially green washing, no matter how well intended it is or how good X in itself is. Doing some totally unrelated donatio…

The problem is that far fewer people will donate without something like this. If you want to use a traditional cash back credit card and donate the rewards directly to something, the existence of this card does not stop you from doing that. Some people find it easier to donate in this way, and I don't see what's wrong with that.

Re: TreeCard: The wooden debit card that plants trees

#69

Post by gnicholas »

dwighttk wrote: post #37

I think I’d rather get 1.5% (or whatever I can get) back and donate that to my chosen program instead of paying these guys all that percentage to then turn around and donate less of it to their chosen program.

Yeah, with Fidelity and Citi offering 2% back, it's hard to see how this card would have a bigger impact. I think the main difference is conspicuous virtuosity — every time you get the card out to pay, it shows everyone around you what a 'good person' you are.
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