Should I Use a Credit Card to Donate to a Political Campaign?

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It's totally doable
Benefits of credit card donations
- Convenience: You can’t beat the convenience of a credit card, especially compared with cash or checks. Quickly entering your account number into a website or handing it over to a campaign volunteer to swipe is much easier than carrying around a checkbook or worrying that currency might fall into the wrong hands.
- Rewards: In many cases, using your card to make a donation will help you earn points, miles or cash back. If you’re using a good rewards credit card, you might be able to get as much as 2% back every time you contribute.
- Tracking: If you’re a big supporter of a particular candidate, you’ll have to keep tabs on how much you’ve donated to his or her campaign. Federal and state election laws put often-complicated limits on how much you can donate to candidates, parties, political action committees and other bodies — and it's up to you to be sure you don't go over. Using a credit card can make this much easier to track.

Drawbacks of credit card donations
- Cost to the candidate: Every time you use your credit card to pay for something, whether it's a purchase or a donation, the recipient of pays a processing fee — typically 2% to 3% of the amount of the payment. Your $500 donation might be only $490 after the fees are taken into account. Your donated dollars will go farther if you cut a check. (The same advice applies to charitable donations.)
- The impulse factor: The great thing about using a credit card to make a donation is that it’s quick and easy, but the bad thing about using a credit card to make a donation is that it’s quick and easy. Don’t let your emotions get the best of you and prompt you to donate more to a campaign than you can afford.
- Political scams: Anyone can set up a website or make phone calls claiming to be soliciting donations for a particular campaign. Using a credit card makes these scams even more frictionless. You read off your card number, some vaguely legit-sounding organization shows up on your statement ("Smith Victory Fund" or whatever), and you never realize that your candidate didn't see a penny. If you're going to donate by credit card, go to the candidate's official website yourself.
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