Bank of America play the BankAmericard in 1958, a confection which eventually evolved into the Visa combination ("Chargex" also became Visa). MasterCard came to being in 1966 when a Business Credit group of credit-issuing banks established MasterCharge.
In the United Kingdom, merchants won the right through The Credence Cards (Price Discrimination) Order 1990 to charge customers altered prices according to the payment method, but few merchants do so (the most notable exceptions being budget airlines, travel agents and UK government agencies, such as the DVLA)