Credit Card Processing and the History of Credit Cards

The word “credit” comes from the Latin meaning “trust” and although credit was first used in Egypt some 3000 years ago, credit cards as we know them today have only been around for around 60 years. In 1946, John Biggins of the National Bank of Brooklyn instigated a “Charge-It” programme between bank customers and local merchants allowing merchants to deposit sales slips at the bank who then issued an invoice to the customer. In 1949 one New York businessman, Frank McNamara, went to pay his restaurant bill after entertaining clients only to find he had left his wallet in another suit. From this potentially embarrassing situation (his wife was able to cover the bill) he came up with the idea of a Diners Club who issued their first cards to approx 200 custom View the rest of this article