Say Credit Cards

Credit cards go back as far as the 18th century when Edward Bellamy first mentioned the term “credit card” more than ten times in his novel, “Looking Backward”. However, in the 1920’s a predecessor of the credit card was used as a charge card to buy fuel. Overtime, companies started accepting other cards as well however it wasn’t until 1950 that Ralph Schneider and Frank McNamara invented the use of credit card to pay for purchases.

McNamara agreed with the concept of credit card to consolidate. The merger with Dine and Sign resulted in the creation of the first charge card which is now known as the Diner’s Club. This charge card was meant for general purposes. It was followed by American Express and Carte Blanche. Western Union also followed suit and began issuing charge cards to most of its customers.

Meanwhile, Visa would eventually come out with the Bank of America creating its predecessor the BankAmericard in 1959. Another popular credit card was introduced when a group of banks created the Master Charge which would come to be known as Master Card. On the other hand, UK launched its first credit card, the Barclay Card in 1966. Many more credit cards were further launched. These credit cards come with varieties of programs but still revolve around one principle and that is cashless transaction.

The design of these credit cards has also been considered as one of the selling points. And the value of these credit cards is often associated with the financial capacity of the card holder.