
The First Credit Card Ever (2016) - hhs
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2016/04/day-cash-died/
======
alister
> _Within a few weeks of publication, there were more than 8,000 Diners Club
> cardholders. By the end of the year, membership was near 100,000._

It sounds like a success right from the get go. But I don’t understand the
motivation of those early adopters. Don’t compare it to today’s impossibility
of renting a car without a credit card, the growing hostility to cash in
Western countries, and the normalcy of buying all your stuff online. None of
that applies to 1950.

Remember that this was only for restaurants at the time. And this was a
_charge_ card that requires you to pay your bill in full every month, meaning
that you could afford those restaurants. You could not spread your bill over a
period of months or years.

> _We went over all the good points of the idea: You don’t have to carry a lot
> of cash. And perhaps most importantly, you have a receipt for a tax write-
> off if you take out a potential customer or client._

You don’t need to crazy amounts of cash for dinner for one night. Besides,
carrying cash was normal. In 1950, it was not unusual to buy a car with cash.
You could always get a restaurant receipt even if you paid cash. None of the
justifications in the article makes sense to me.

My theory is that those early adopters signed up because the card gave the
illusion of status or eliteness. You show this magic card to the waiter, sign
your name, and you walk out without paying any money. All the other use cases
and benefits (and detriments) of credit cards came in later years.

~~~
ginko
> The cardholders would be charged nothing, the restaurant would receive 93
> percent of the total, and Diners Club would get the rest.

I personally found this a bit more startling. How did they convince
restauranteurs in 1950 that this was a good value proposition for them?

~~~
dsfyu404ed
Probably something to the tune of "people who regularly expense meals for
business make up a large portion of our membership so what you lose in margin
you more than make up for in volume."

~~~
lotsofpulp
Also, the people paying with card are less likely to care about pricing, so
they can simply charge higher prices.

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rtpg
I'm actually a bit confused because I thought that predecessors to Visa would
classify as the first credit cards in earnest.

This blog has an amazing history of Visa, as well as a very deep breakdown of
its financials. Probably a very interesting read for anyone reading these
comments.

[https://minesafetydisclosures.com/blog/2019/5/29/part-l-a-
hi...](https://minesafetydisclosures.com/blog/2019/5/29/part-l-a-history-of-
visa)

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smarks
My first corporate credit card (for travel expenses) was a Diners Club. This
as in 1986. It was terrible. No place would take it. I had to put all my
expenses on my own credit card. Fortunately my credit limit wasn’t an issue,
but having a corporate credit card that nobody will take kind of defeats the
purpose of having a corporate credit card. We switched to American Express the
next year.

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sbolt
If anyone enjoyed this piece there's a great book called "A Piece of the
Action" by Joe Nocera which details the origins of the credit card and
discount brokerage industries.
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AYIDT74/](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AYIDT74/)

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domador
Having a credit card is STILL frightening. Specifically, I don't like how
little verification takes place, how easy it'd be for someone else to start
using my card if they gain physical possession of it, and how I wouldn't find
out about purchases made on my card unless I'm actively monitoring it every
day (or every hour!) I haven't yet found a bank that would send me an email or
text message for every single transaction on my credit card, or the option to
turn on such a service (which incidentally, should also notify me whenever
that service is turned off.)

~~~
bpt3
The beauty of a credit card is that none of the things you're afraid of are
your problem.

Just check your statement before paying the bill, and if you lose your card,
freeze it. Also, most credit cards will inform you of purchases somehow, so
maybe you need to get a new card.

~~~
ValentineC
> _The beauty of a credit card is that none of the things you 're afraid of
> are your problem._

This is true mostly if it's a magstripe or "card-not-present" transaction, or
done online without two-factor authentication.

Otherwise, the burden tends to fall onto the cardholder to provide some form
of proof that their card details were compromised.

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dmclamb
Interesting read.

Does anyone have a link to the earliest known credit card compromise to
complement this article? I'll research it and see what I can find.

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choeger
Wait a second. How old is the author?

~~~
samsudden
92\. [https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/matty-
simmons-i...](https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/matty-simmons-
interview/)

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slow_kindjal
Wow! Very interesting piece.

