(Reuters) - MasterCard Inc's <MA.N> fourth-quarter results topped Wall Street estimates and revenue growth accelerated as more people chose card payments over cash.

The world's second-largest credit and debit card network earned $605 million, or $4.86 per share, in the quarter, up from $19 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier.

The company took a $495 million litigation charge in the year-ago quarter.

Fourth-quarter revenue rose 10 percent to $1.9 billion - the fastest it has grown in three quarters.

Analysts on average expected the company to earn $4.81 per share, excluding items, on revenue of $1.89 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Cardholders made $727 billion of purchases worldwide, on a local currency basis, up 13 percent. Purchase volume grew 12 percent in the third quarter.

"We are pleased with our fourth-quarter results, which saw double-digit growth in net revenue, cross-border volume and processed transactions," Chief Executive Ajay Banga said in a statement.

Shares of the Purchase, New York-based payment network, which has a market value of more than $64 billion, rose 4 percent to $536.10 in premarket trade. They closed at $516 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Jochelle Mendonca in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)