Payment industry blogger Aneace Haddad has an interesting interview with MasterCard Group Head Shawn Miles.

Regardless of your stance on the controversy about how credit card companies make money, it’s interesting to read a cogent defense of the policies and, of course, comments that disagree.

Credit cards and Haiti have created a small controversy on Twitter.

Many potential donors are turned off by the fees charged by credit card companies on donations. That’s an understandable reaction.

However, we’d provide a counterpoint- to get money quickly, credit card payments are often the only way. There are obviously other ways to transfer money, but many involve a fee or a time constraint. The Red Cross online alternative to credit card payments, Amazon Payments, has a transaction fee as well.

It’s easy to take umbrage at charges off a tragedy. …

Pglyman pointed out a cool visual history of the credit card:

Check out these vintage credit cards http://bit.ly/4mPdzy (via @FinancialBrand) HA! I’m breaking out my players club http://bit.ly/5INXB7

We love it! The original version, via Slate’s Big Money site, can be found here.

Take a look- you’ll be amazed to see the different versions of credit cards from the past.

Today, we were alerted to some interesting analysis of American Express’s purchase of Revolution Money.

We don’t know what it signifies for the rest of the payments industry. However, it is true that credit card companies are willing to evolve and grow. What exactly that means has yet to be determined.

Ironwolfpayment tweets today’s big news:

American Express Says It Will Buy Revolution Money http://bit.ly/jW66N

As Bloomberg reports, American Express is buying the payments startup Revolution Money.

What is Revolution Money?

Revolution sought to capitalize on retailers’ discontent with traditional credit cards by charging a flat transaction fee of half a percent. U.S. banks deduct merchant-discount fees averaging about 2 percent of purchases made with most cards, including those processed on the Visa and MasterCard networks. AmEx’s merchant-discount rate averages more than …

Show_Dont_Tell tweets news that’s been bouncing around the web:

MasterCard announces first commercial launch of mobile payments gatewayhttp://ow.ly/D1yc

What are mobile payments? And why should they matter to you?

Mobile payments allow consumers to transfer money via their mobile phone. As the full article notes, Mastercard’s mobile payment system will work primarily in the developing world to assist consumers without bank accounts.

If you’re in the United States, the mobile payment system might not mean a lot for you immediately. …

Bgcallam is curious about convenience stores and credit cards:

If you’re a convenience store, what reason besides tax evasion would you not accept credit cards?

Why do some convenience stores refuse credit cards? Simple- every time a customer uses a credit card, it costs them money.

The National Association of Convenience Stores has lobbied to change the way that credit cards and convenience stores work together. The processing and transaction fees card companies charge frequently sap away whatever profits a convenience store makes. A representative of the Circle K chan …

Entrepreneur mdjensen tweets that he’s looking for the best way for his customers to pay online:

If I offer Google Checkout and PayPal, is that enough or do people just want to put in a credit card? Please respond, I need to know!

Before we can determine which is the best way for customers to pay online, we should review the three most popular options for paying on the web: Google Checkout, PayPal, and traditional credit cards.

Google Checkout …