A Short History of the Credit Card
By: Author
Common enough today, a model of the credit card in its modern
form was first invented by a fiction writer in 1887. Edward
Bellamy, author of Looking Backward, mentions the "credit card" in
the context of a utopian and socialist American society of the
future. His hero falls into a hypnotic, time traveling sleep and is
whisked forward through the years a full century, ending up in
Boston in the year 2000, a place where he is able to make purchases
using a commonly held "credit card", much to his delight. Credit,
however, evolved long before the concept of carrying it around on a
card. Credit and debt have been the driving force behind
achievements ranging from a man working his way out of debt to a
landholder, to Kevin Smith creating Clerks.
The advent of widespread credit card use was not until the 1920's.
At that point in time the credit card was not recognizable as the
powerful buying tool it is today. It's use was fragmented, and very
often tied to specific merchants rather than specific banks or
"captive banks" as it is today. Later, carrying and using a credit
card was simply a way of being able to use your money when you were
away from your bank, a common use that debit cards have largely
absorbed.
Still later, came partial, or revolving, payment. Initially, most
issuers required credit card balances to be paid in full at the end
of each pre-determined period. With the introduction of revolving
credit came the realization that these cards were not just
immensely convenient for the user but could provide impressive
amounts of revenue to anyone who wanted to tap into our strong
desire to consume. This desire, coupled with new products and the
convenience and carefree feel of handing over a card instead of
cash, has led some critics to believe that credit cards may have
been responsible in part for The Great Depression.
Though different in many ways, the modern incarnation of the credit
card relies on the same trusts and understandings as its earliest
counterparts. The credit card is not cash, but a representation,
sometime of resources that don't yet exist. The credit card taps
into a history of human commercial interaction, created by
necessity and re-imagined hundreds of times on its way to 2006. In
the future, many predict that we will be living in a paperless
society. Many people believe that every money transaction will be
purchased with a credit card from a persons cab fair to a candy bar
at a vending machine. The credit card has and continues to stand
the test of time.
Author is owner & operator of several successful finance
sites such as: Bad Credit Credit Cards
and Bad Credit Home Loans
Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com
Tags: bad credit home loans
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