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Monday, January 19, 2009

Credit Card History

By Jason Asthworth

Edward Ballamy first introduced the world to the idea of the "credit card" in his 1887 novel, Looking Backward.

Credit cards were first utilized by motorists in the United States in the 1920s during the car boom. They were however originally referred to as charge cards and with time, various firms permitted the use of different cards. In those days it was a piece of cake to forge a credit card since many of them were printed onto a type of card material and not plastic as they are nowadays.

During the 1930s and 1940s another form of the credit card occurred. It was known as the Charga-Plate and was made of a fairly small piece of metal, which had the owners name, city of residence, and the state in which that person lived imprinted into it. It also contained a small piece of card for a signature. Only the large retailers made use of these, and they were only issued to their everyday clients. Most often, the Charga-Plates were kept at the store.

Diners club was founded by Ralph Schneider and Frank X. McNamara in 1950, and instead of using many cards people where allowed to use one card. This card had to be paid in full at the end of each month which is differnt from the modern credit card.

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.

Credit card use rose in the United States because of the banking practices in place. Cross country travelers could take their credit with them on their journeys, as they could not access their own banks immediately.

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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