by How long was the credit card invented?
One card travels the world
—The invention and use of the credit card in 1950 In 1950, McNamara, a 35-year-old Manhattan credit expert, invented the credit card. The first 200 Supper Club members can dine on credit at 27 New York restaurants. Credit cards can not only save people the trouble and danger of traveling around the world with a lot of money but also concentrate idle consumption funds of the people in banks, increasing the source of bank credit funds.
One day more than 50 years ago, McNamara, a 35-year-old Manhattan credit expert, had to call his wife to send the money because he was running out of money after having a meal at a restaurant. This made him feel embarrassed. But he believes the situation is entirely avoidable. So he organized a “dinners club” according to his own ideas, and the participants could carry a dining debit card to book consumption in restaurants without having to pay cash. This is the first credit card.
What are the benefits of credit cards to people? A friend told me this: In the past, he had to carry a lot of cash when he traveled all over the country to do business, which was not only troublesome but also dangerous. With a credit card, he no longer had to go out with a lot of money. In addition, since the credit card can be “good faith overdraft”, that is, the cardholder overdraws within the limit specified by the issuing bank, and repays the principal and interest within the specified time, which means that you can borrow some money from the bank at any time.
What does a credit card mean to a bank? For the bank, it dislikes two kinds of people. One is the one who never borrows money because the bank can’t possibly get interested in him. Be aware that the interest on a credit card over the repayment period is higher than the interest rate on any kind of loan. The other is people who have not paid the money, which will directly affect the bank’s income. But in fact, for credit card users, the latter is almost no problem, because banks have undergone meticulous investigations before establishing credit cards for cardholders, and their fixed assets can withstand “trust”.For cardholders, a “foul” will be entered into the “separate book” of credit consumption, which directly affects their business reputation and the credit limit they enjoy in the future. Banks try their best to promote credit cards, not only because credit cards can concentrate idle consumption funds in the bank, increase the source of bank credit funds, and expand transfer and settlement business, but more importantly, people will inevitably overdraft when they have a credit card, and overdraft often makes Banks earn high interest.
Let’s take Citibank in the United States as an example. In 1990, Citibank made a net profit of 900 million US dollars, of which 80% was credit card income, and 75% of credit card income came from overdraft interest income. In order to keep this kind of income, Citibank assures its cardholders: Citibank will take full responsibility for the goods purchased with Citibank credit cards if something goes wrong.
Since the general credit card is an ordinary plastic magnetic stripe card, it is relatively easy to use counterfeiting or impersonation. To this end, people have invented many security cards, such as smart cards, smart cards, and so on. The smart card is equipped with a microprocessor made of integrated circuits, which has the function of control and storage. Cardholders can program and enter passwords by themselves, which cannot be used by others and cannot be imitated. The Bell Institute of Communications has also created a credit card that responds to voice, with a computer chip on the card that digitally records the user’s password. When using, say the password once, and the cards can be compared automatically, and the cards can only be used if they match. Its ability to recognize sounds is very high, with an accuracy rate of 98%, and it is not afraid of being copied and imitated.
In March 1985, my country’s first credit card, the Bank of China Card, was issued by the Bank of China Zhuhai Branch in Zhuhai, Guangdong. In 1993, my country implemented the “Golden Card Project” aiming at the development of the network of bank credit cards, which promoted the popularization of credit cards. The number of bank credit cards issued nationwide increased by 76% every year, and the number of special merchants increased by 51% every year. In 1999, the total number of credit cards in my country It is estimated that there are more than 170 million copies. In countries where credit cards are popular, a person has several cards, and ATMs can handle various transactions 24 hours a day.
