Credit was first used in Assyria, Babylon and Egypt 3000 years ago. The bill of exchange – the forerunner of banknotes – was established in the 14th century. Debts were settled by one-third cash and two-thirds bill of exchange. Paper money followed only in the 17th century.
The first advertisement for credit was placed in 1730 by Christopher Thornton, who offered furniture that could be paid off weekly.
From the 18th century until the early part of the 20th, tallymen sold clothes in return for small weekly payments. They were called “tallymen” because they kept a record or tally of what people had bought on a wooden stick. One side of the stick was marked with notches to represent the amount of debt and the other side was a record of payments. In the 1920s, a shopper’s plate – a “buy now, pay later” system – was introduced in the USA. It could only be used in the shops which issued it.
The first credit card
In 1950, Diners Club and American Express launched their charge cards in the USA, the first “plastic money”. In 1951, Diners Club issued the first credit card to 200 customers who could use it at 27 restaurants in New York. But it was only until the establishment of standards for the magnetic strip in 1970 that the credit card became part of the information age.
The first use of magnetic stripes on cards was in the early 1960′s, when the London Transit Authority installed a magnetic stripe system. San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit installed a paper based ticket the same size as the credit cards in the late 1960′s.
The word credit comes from Latin, meaning “trust”. Ironically. Almost half of all credit card disputes are about internet
transactions.
Find credit card reviews online and choose the best offer for your lifestyle.
Checks (cheques) came into use in 1875. But before you write one out you should consider how safe is your bank.
Federal Trade Commission: What you need to know
View Comments to “History of credit cards”
In 1958 American Express and Bank of America issued there first credit cards.
@ joe smith
I am Dutch so please tell me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't it be “their” instead of “there”?
@ Bas Clason
No, you are correct, it should be “their”. It is a common mistake among native English speakers.
No, it's just a mistake made by people who don't understand the syntax of the English language, although they've spoken it their whole life.
Wow. Shut up. Honestly.
they need more about the first credit card
wat do u mean by native
ummmmmmm……and wher do u think your from!!!!!!!!!!
Americans know more than you do!!! So don't you be correctin our English yo!!!!
Yeah… I suggest not taking the comment from Kenneth W. seriously. I may be way off here… but I'm pretty certain that he represents the ever growing ignorant and undereducated American population. You are correct the possessive form is 'their', the form used by the initial poster is typically an adverb, adjective or pronoun describing a specific place, or an introductory word to a sentence.
Yeah…I believe that Kenneth W. was using a device called sarcasm. You idiots it's called SARCASM! Tim, don't tell me you're going to come on here acting as an English major and you can't even recognize when sarcasm is being used. Check your ego please, Tim.
I agree with Tim. A lot of Americans now really don't know their own language. Sad.
Interesting that it wasn't so long ago that credit cards first came into existence. Who knew at the time that they'd cause such problems!
I think credit cards are one of the most important invention in history of banking services.I know that every great invention has its problems at the beginning although it ended up pretty good in our days.
Thank you!
[...] First Credit Used - The first method of credit was used in Assyria almost three thousand years ago. [...]
Nice article!