Forget Swipe Fees, Credit Card Issuers Are Losing the Payments War

``While the associations battle over the details of the proposed plan, many merchants are actively looking for alternatives. We've seen stories recently about Home Depot and 15 other retailers partnering with PayPal and Lowe's working with Google Wallet. Every website with any scale accepts BillMeLater. The one thing forcing merchants to accept cards is that consumers expect or demand it. One important lesson of the past few years is that consumer behavior can change in a heartbeat. To the glee of merchants, the number of less expensive alternatives to credit cards is swelling.''