Same. I was also hoping to find something that doesn't require me to have a credit card, only accepts USD, and *has* to go through a third party.

Flattr uses credit cards exclusively, Liberapay only uses Stripe, Patreon a host of third parties but no direct transfers, and I have checked out the rest.

Why can't I just transfer the amount I want, when I want, directly to another bank without an intermediary? I'm fine with the donation subscription service knowing how much and to whom I'm donating and taking out but why does it have to talk to so many other services I haven't picked or agreed to interact with?

There's no such thing as a direct transfer of virtual money. Just because you don't always see the intermediaries doesn't mean they aren't there.

Well, transferring money worldwide is pretty hard – cryptocurrencies wouldn't have had the same popularity if it wasn't.