Ask HN: Favorite payment processor?

I've been thinking of starting a small project that needs to charge money, and PayPal doesn't cut it (I need to be able to place a hold on $1-$2 at a time and then either release or keep it a few days later).

I've been looking at various processors and am slowly beginning to realise why PayPal is used by so many people: Every other processor requires my family medical history to sign up for (and most don't even support vendors outside the US)!

Sagepay, for example, requires me to apply for a merchant account at my bank, then apply for a sagepay account, then hook everything up in some obscure way I don't understand, and that's before I even get a quote on how much it will cost.

There are various startups that add subscription management on top of your payment processor, but I don't need subscriptions. I just need a simple way to hold $1 from a person's card and then release it (hopefully with no charge) or keep it.

Does anyone know of a payment processor that would fulfil my needs and not require my firstborn in exchange?