esponse to the Asian tsunami has been so overwhelming thanks, in large part, to donors making contributions online using credit cards. But in the United States and Canada, payments companies are donors now, too.

On Jan. 3, 2005 VeriFone Inc. announced a $200,000 pledge to the tsunami disaster relief efforts, including $100,000 from the company; this was matched by another pledge made by VeriFone Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Douglas G. Bergeron on behalf of The Bergeron Family Trust.

Visa, MasterCard and American Express Co. (AmEx) in both countries said they will contribute to relief agencies in several ways.

On Jan. 7, Visa U.S.A. announced a $1 million pledge to American Red Cross; it will also match all donations made by employees and will waive all fees for U.S. Visa-based donations to five recognized charities.

MasterCard International said it will waive fees for donations to five agencies made using its cards in the United States. MasterCard will double-match employee contributions to three specified charities and will match all employee contributions to other humanitarian groups.

AmEx announced a $1 million contribution to support relief efforts in Asia. It will also waive all fees for donations made to 75 recognized agencies through June 1, retroactive to Dec. 26, 2004, and will match its employees' charitable contributions.

On Jan. 10, First Data Corp. announced donation plans that include reducing fees for money transfers, made through its subsidiary Western Union, from the United States to the affected areas through Feb. 10, and matching employee contributions to specified relief agencies.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based ISO Direct Technology Innovations (DTI) on Jan. 12 pledged $5 to the Red Cross Tsunami Relief Fund for each free terminal deployed in January and February. It will also donate $25 to UNICEF for each of its merchants with families directly affected.

In Canada, the Associations will refund amounts equivalent to the processing fees for Canadian donations made between Dec. 26, 2004 and Jan. 31, 2005.

Visa also donated CAN$75,000 to the Canadian Red Cross and matched employee donations.

In other tsunami-related news, MasterCard volunteered to help identify and eradicate phishing scams; one Australian fraud company had identified more than 130 such Web sites by Jan. 12. AmEx pulled television ads featuring big wave rider Laird Hamilton.