Using Credit Cards In Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward
The concept of using a card for purchases was described in 1887 by Edward Bellamy in his utopian novel Looking Backward. In the novel, Bellamy used the term credit card eleven times. But it is actually referred to a card for spending a citizen's dividend from the government, rather than borrowing. In 1800s, consumers and merchants used credit coins and charge plates as currency for exchanging the goods through the concept of credit. However, it wasn't until about half a century ago, the things that they used to make a credit transaction such as credit coins and charge plates was replaced by a plastic card. The plastic cards that use for payment we know them today as a credit card and it became a way of life.
According to Stan Sienkiewicz,
oil companies and department stories issued their own proprietary cards in 1990s and this was written in a paper for the Philadelphia Federal Reserve entitled "Credit Cards and Payment Efficiency." The cards issued have a limited usage. It has a limited location and can be only use and accept at the business that issued the card. Sienkiewicz says that the predecessor cards were developed as a means of creating customer loyalty and improving customer service compared to the modern card that focus on offering convenience payment method to the card holders.
In 1946, John Biggins who was a banker in Brooklyn begin to introduce the first bank card, named Charg-It. All of purchase transactions made by all card holders were forwarded to Biggins’ bank. Besides obtaining payment from customer, the bank needs to reimburse the merchant. In order to obtain the card, people need to have an account at Biggins' bank and once they owned the card, the purchases could only be made locally. In 1951, New York's Franklin National Bank introduced the first bank credit card that made for loan customers only. Like Charg-It card this card also could be used only by the bank's account holders.
Moving forward is The Diners Club Card. The story of this card began in 1949 when Frank McNamara had a business dinner in New York's Major's Cabin Grill. He paid the bill with a small, cardboard card. This card was expanding and there were 20,000 Diners Club cardholders. A decade later, the card was replaced with plastic.
According to Stan Sienkiewicz,
oil companies and department stories issued their own proprietary cards in 1990s and this was written in a paper for the Philadelphia Federal Reserve entitled "Credit Cards and Payment Efficiency." The cards issued have a limited usage. It has a limited location and can be only use and accept at the business that issued the card. Sienkiewicz says that the predecessor cards were developed as a means of creating customer loyalty and improving customer service compared to the modern card that focus on offering convenience payment method to the card holders.
In 1946, John Biggins who was a banker in Brooklyn begin to introduce the first bank card, named Charg-It. All of purchase transactions made by all card holders were forwarded to Biggins’ bank. Besides obtaining payment from customer, the bank needs to reimburse the merchant. In order to obtain the card, people need to have an account at Biggins' bank and once they owned the card, the purchases could only be made locally. In 1951, New York's Franklin National Bank introduced the first bank credit card that made for loan customers only. Like Charg-It card this card also could be used only by the bank's account holders.
Moving forward is The Diners Club Card. The story of this card began in 1949 when Frank McNamara had a business dinner in New York's Major's Cabin Grill. He paid the bill with a small, cardboard card. This card was expanding and there were 20,000 Diners Club cardholders. A decade later, the card was replaced with plastic.