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Published on August 31, 2007

The Credit Card Club, an organisation under the Thai Bankers' Association, has initiated a programme to allow cardholders to redeem their reward points as a cash donation to His Majesty the King's Chaipattana Foundation. For every 2,000 reward points, cardholders can make a Bt200 donation to the foundation. The programme runs from tomorrow until November 30.

Credit Card Club president Shoke na Ranong said the Reward Points for Royal Charity programme had been launched to celebrate His Majesty the King's upcoming 80th birthday on December 5. It offers credit cardholders the opportunity to pay respect to the King by redeeming reward points collected on their cards. The Credit Card Club will distribute the donations to projects under the Chaipattana Foundation.

The programme will run for three months, after which cardholders will receive a receipt within 90 days confirming their donation.

Fourteen financial institutions are participating in the Reward Points for Royal Charity programme: Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank, TMB Bank, Siam City Bank, United Overseas Bank (Thai), Standard Chartered Bank (Thai), Citibank NA, HSBC, Krung Thai Card, Krungsri Card, AIG Card (Thailand), GE Capital (Thailand) and Cetelem (Thailand) - in association with Visa International (Thailand) and MasterCard International.

"With donations used to support royally initiated projects, the Credit Card Club is anticipating a positive response from cardholders," said Shoke.

Projects under the King's Chaipattana Foundation that will receive donations include: the Chaipattana Aerator; vegetable oil and biodiesel production; waste-water treatment; vetiver grass for the prevention of soil erosion; New Theory for agriculture; soil improvement at Khao Cha-ngoom; coastal forest improvement and development; research centres for solutions to soil acidity and salinity; and dairy cooperatives.

"Cardholders can find out more information by contacting the call centres of their credit-card issuers. The call centre number is on the back of each credit card," Shoke added. 

Nonetheless, the programme does not mean to encourage credit-card users to spend beyond their means.

Busdsk@nationgroup.com