The History of Credit

According to the following site, www.didyouknow.cd/creditcards.html, the first official 'credit card' in the USA appeared in the form of the Diners Club card in the 1950s. In the 1970s, when the magnetic stripe was incorporated into cards, their availability and use became more common.

Imagine what your life would be like if you lived your fiscal life today as if it were before 1950, if you only spent the money you earned, and you did not use credit cards. Believe it or not, there was a time when that was the ONLY way to live. Our culture has embraced the notion that we NEED credit. I think this is the biggest success in the history of marketing, embedding in the mind of the masses that credit is somehow a necessity.