What to do with credit card rewards?

So you've been buying everything on your credit card just to earn rewards or points. What are you going to spend those points on? Something you don't need? Maybe. Something useless? Probably. Something you frivolous? Certainly. What if you could offer an affordable loan to a farmer in Afghanistan, or a merchant in Kenya? Wouldn't that be a better use of "free" money?

As Karyn and I look to give more one area that we've been intrigued with for a while is micro finance. (If you're interested in it check out this great book.) So yesterday we used the rewards from Karyn's credit card to fund a micro finance loan for Rahmat Gull. Here's his story:

Rahmat Gull is a young boy with great experience, though he is not literate. He works in the agricultural sector and has been involved in this business for nine years, working with his family during this time.

He has some land but he would like to buy animals for his land so that he can provide the grass for the animals from the land. To manage the economics he needs extra money. Therefore, he requested a loan of 50,000 Afghani to buy animals to start raising them.

Rahmat Gull is a professional man and, from when he started his business, he always wanted to improve his business. He is grateful for this loan process. He wants to say that it is his first loan and it is really great, especially for agriculture workers. He wants to continue his partnership and encourage other workers to use this loan service.

If you're want to try micro finance check out Kiva. They're a non-profit and 100% of your loan goes to the entrepreneur that you're supporting. I literally set everything up in less than 15 minutes. Karyn and I are excited to cash in more of our points so that we can continue to support micro finance operations all over the world.