When Credit Card Invented?
When Credit Card Invented? The credit card has come to stay and is not going away any time soon. Most people have no idea how the card was invented or created. In this piece or write-up, we take you through a road down history into the invention of the credit card.
Credit card usage has become so part of our daily lives that you would think they have been around since the creation of man. Many people move almost always with their cards, whenever it was time to eat, buy fuel, travel, or use a restaurant, it is a credit card that they would go for. Let us find out have these cards have emerged and changed over the years.
The first card to be invented and used was around 1950, it was called the Dinners Club card. With time, others followed, these were American Express, Bank Americard and then Mastercard. Today we have countless cards in the system all over the world.
As it is, it is beginning to look like we are approaching a time when we shall be using more of “digital and touch-free” transactions. This is a result of the many ways of improving security features and various ways of protecting our transactions. Merchants would give out seeds to farmers and then these farmers would pay the merchants back after they have harvested their crops.
At a point, there was the usage of what was known as credit coins and metal money. With time, these were becoming normal things that would be used as credit for hotel transactions or for purchases in stores. They worked with the same principle of the credit card today. Anyone in possession of them could make purchases with them.
As time moved on, much more advanced and modern ways came into the system by the latter part of the 19th century and the early 1900s.
Which is the first bank card? When Credit Card Invented
The first bank card to emerge on the scene was around 1946. It was known as the “Charg-It” card. It was invented by a Brooklyn banker known as John Biggins. This bank card was initially meant to rake in new prospects and eventually customers into the bank. The way this card worked was similar to the principle of the credit card today. People who had the “Charg-It” card would use their cards to transact business with merchants of the time. Later on, the merchants would send receipts to the bank so that the bank would pay for the service that had been rendered. This way, the customers of the bank had credit to use.
Later on, the Diners Club Card also came into the system and would be the first modern credit card to be launched into the market. The club card came into the system in the year 1950 and was introduced by Frank McNamara. He was a businessman. History says he left his wallet forgetfully when he was going out for dinner in the city of New York. Finding a way to solve the problem of having dinner even without his card, he and his friend Ralph Schneider came up with the idea of the Diners Club Card, the card enabled people to have dinner without cash and still paid for the service. At first, the Diners club card was used in restaurants within the locality only. With time, its usage grew to include other shops that provided the same services. The difference in usage of the diners club card at the time was such that, at the end of each month, each customer would have to pay whatever they have spent in full before they can enjoy credit the following month.
The Diners Club card grew rapidly and spread its usage such that by the year 1951, it had amassed as many as 42,000 users and patrons. It had also now made its way into other cities in America. By the next two following years, 1953, the card had entered Canada, Cuba and Mexico and eventually also entered the United Kingdom.
After 1953, there was a massive proliferation in the usage of the cards and many countries came on board. Many banks now started giving out their own cards, however, instead of making customers make full payment of whatever credit they have enjoyed at the end of each month, users of these cards could not roll over their credits from one month to the other and to the next.
By 1958, the popular American Express had made its way into the system. It emerged onto the market as an aid to transport the wares of travellers, it assisted in the carriage of valuable goods that belonged to these travellers and issued them “Travelers Checks”. By the close of 1966, this had evolved into a corporate card for travellers.
The next to come onto the scene after the American Express was the BankAmericard. This was issued to customers of the Bank of America and became the first credit card on the market in the year 1958. The bank was the first to give out what is seen today as a revolving card. By the year 1976, the card issued by the bank of America had become known as the Visa card, and it is now an entire global household name.
The next to follow was the MasterCard in the year 1966. This was introduced into the market to aid in interbank transactions. By the year 1970, it had also become global.
Others, such as discover, would follow suit, and then we eventually got the magnetic strip to improve security features and usage of cards, and then we got the contactless transactions era in which we are now.
Today, we can’t count the number of credit cards in the system and the way of transacting business keeps evolving where from the comfort of one’s home, a business can be transacted across the globe. When Credit Card Invented