According to USA Today, Steve Case, former chairman of AOL, is backing a new type of credit card called the RevolutionCard. Designed to compete against the entrenched companies in payment systems, its features include:

• a line of credit
• the ability to store up to $15,000 on the card (loaded electronically from the user’s bank account)
• free online payments
• interest rates pegged to the card holder’s credit rating
• beefed up identify-theft protection:
  • PIN-based, with no name or account number on the card
  • Allows creation of temporary one-use PINs

In addition to these unique features, RevolutionCard intends to carve its niche by offering low fees to both consumers and merchants. For instance, merchants will only be charged 0.5% of the sales price per transaction processed. Consumers will save money with free online payments (similar to Paypal), no annual fee and interest rates based upon the customer’s current credit score.

Of course, ramping up card acceptance to critical mass will be a significant challenge, but currently the card does claim acceptance by about 100,000 merchants including Barnes & Noble. Its goal is to reach 7 million merchants in 3 years.

To find more information, see www.revolutionmoney.com. To apply for a card, see www.revolutioncard.com.