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1992-12-20
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF CREDIT CARDS
Credit or "charge" cards have been a part of American
society since 1950 when Diner's Club introduced the first
charge card. Here, consumers could use the card as a
substitution for cash, by charging purchases they'd pay for
the following month. This arrangement proved so successful
that in 1958, American Express, which was best known for its
traveler's checks, introduced the "American Express Card" to
the marketplace; Hilton Corporation introduced the "Carte
Blanche" bank card in 1959.
The true "credit card" was introduced in 1951 by the First
National Bank of Long Island. Such credit cards' use was
limited until the late 1950's when players such as Bank of
America and Chase Manhattan Bank entered the credit card
market. By the 1970's, the credit card was ingrained in the
American way.
By the early 1990's, there were more than 285 million credit
card accounts in the United States. Over 70 percent of
American households have credit cards with the average
credit- card-using American holding five credit cards.
Recent studies show that credit card usage in 1991 was up by
almost six percent over 1990. The average total per-person
credit card account balance was $2,500; in 1991, Americans
charged over $374 billion to credit cards.
TO ILLUSTRATE EXACTLY HOW MUCH
$374 BILLION DOLLARS REALLY IS,
THINK OF IT AS
374 THOUSAND MILLION DOLLARS
OR
$ 3 7 4, 0 0 0, 0 0 0, 0 0 0. 0 0.
- THE "BIG 10" PLAYERS IN TODAY'S CREDIT CARD MARKET -
-- Ranked by percentage of total market share --
#1 Citicorp . . . . . . . . . . . . 17%
#2 Chase Manhattan. . . . . . . . . . 6%
#3 Bank of America. . . . . . . . . . 5%
#4 First Chicago. . . . . . . . . . . 5%
#5 Sears' Discover. . . . . . . . . . 4%
#6 American Expresses' Optima . . . . 3%
#7 Wells Fargo. . . . . . . . . . . . 3%
#8 Manufacturers Hanover. . . . . . . 3%
#9 Bank of New York . . . . . . . . . 2%
#10 Maryland Bank. . . . . . . . . . . 2%
* * * * * End of A Brief History of Credit Cards * * * * *