Monday, January 19, 2009

About The The History of Credit Cards

By Jason Asthworth

When Edward Bellamy wrote the novel Looking Backward in 1887, he brought up the novel idea that each person would own a credit card that they would use to buy items. This was the first time the term credit card was introduced to the world.

It was however, first used as a way of selling gas to an ever-increasing number of vehicle owners in the United States of America in the 1920s. These cards were initially known as charge cards and in time various companies allowed the use of different cards. In the early days it was quite easy to falsify a credit card, as a number of these cards were printed onto a type of card, and not plastic like they are today.

Another type of credit card that appeared in the 1930s and 1940s is the Charga-plate. The credit card was made of a small piece of metal and had the owners name, city of residence, and the state in which the person resided imprinted into it. The Charga-plates were most of the time kept in a store and only large retailers made use of these, and they only issued them to their everyday clients.

When Ralph Schneider and Frank X. McNamara established Diners Club in 1950, they created a unique card. Unlike other credit cards, the Diners Club card gave people the freedom to use one card instead of multiple cards. Also, while you can pay only a portion of your bill on other credit cards, the Diners Club has to be paid in full each and every month.

The next card to come along was Carte Blanche and then American Express in 1958. American Express led to the creation of a global credit card system. The Visa system also came into existence in 1958 via Bank of Americas Bank Americard. MasterCard came into the world in 1966 and it was first known as MasterCharge.

The US bank system made it possible for people traveling to use credit cards in various places across the country, since they could not access their home banks.

In 1966, the first credit card was released in the UK. The credit card system was not accepted by other countries. Reasons cited for not wanting to use credit cards included bank reliability or a preference to use cash.

Credit cards are now being tested that have a microchip implanted to reduce fraud. Another type of credit card being tested is the Affinity Card. This is a co-sponsored card by the issuer and an organization that carry certain features such as discounts or cash back.

The factors that influence higher credit are amount of money you make and your amount of credit card expenditures.

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