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Monday, January 19, 2009

About The The History of Credit Cards

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.

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 BankAmericard. MasterCard came into the world in 1966 when it was first known as MasterCharge.

With development of high security and safety in banking system in the United States of America, the credit card market rose. Travellers gained benefits of being able to use credit cards safely and easily all over the world.

The U.K. was the first country to release the credit card in 1966. Other countries were not still agreed to it, as reliability and security of it was also in question and people also were giving their preferences to cash payments.

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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