Canada's major credit card companies said Wednesday they will donate the revenue they make from tsunami relief contributions to a battery of charities dealing with the crisis in southeast Asia.

"Canadians have responded with enormous generosity to those in need in South and southeast Asia," Kevin Stanton, president of MasterCard Canada, said in a release. "We wanted to maximize the effect of that generosity to ensure those dollars go as far as possible."

MasterCard Canada and Visa Canada both said they will give the money to the Canadian Red Cross, CARE Canada, Development and Peace, Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec, Save the Children, UNICEF Canada and World Vision Canada.

The programs will cover donations made using a Canadian MasterCard or Visa card until Jan. 31.

And American Express said it will waive the fees it charges to recognized charities raising money for tsunami relief using its cards until April 1. Fees already paid by the charities on tsunami relief donations will be refunded as far back as Dec. 26, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Visa Canada said it will make donations to tsunami relief organizations equivalent to the processing fees incurred by the charitable organizations on Canadian donations from Dec. 26 to Jan. 31. It is also donating $75,000 to the Canadian Red Cross relief fund and has promised to match donations made by its employees.

"A human tragedy of this scale demands a personal and an organizational response," Derek Fry, president of Visa Canada, said in a release.

"I'm proud of our members and our employees who have donated, and we'll continue to work closely with our colleagues around the world to do our part."

When money is donated to a charity through a credit card, the credit card company normally treats the funds as a cash advance and charges a transaction fee. The recipients pay those fees out of the donation.

Canadian Lutheran World Relief, for example, would normally pay two per cent to Visa and MasterCard, while UNICEF Canada, which has raised about $5.5 million, would paying 2.05 per cent to Visa and 3.25 per cent to American Express.

As part of Visa's disaster relief efforts, its Global Cardholder Assistance Service Centre's emergency message service will accept messages left by affected cardholders wishing to contact relatives or by others wishing to locate a cardholder by calling 1-866-639-1910 or 1-800-847-2911.