2.     The inventor of the first bank-issued credit card was John Briggs, a banker from the Flatbush National Bank of New York. Introduced in 1946, the card was called “Charge-It.” The catch was that a user had to have an account at Brigg’s bank and purchases could be made only locally. Technically, it was actually a charge card, because the bill had to be paid in full at the end of each month.

3.     In the 1950s, Diners Club Card became the first company to offer a credit card that could be used in more than one store. Although the credit card was accepted at just 14 restaurants in New York and was issued to just 200 people, within in a year of its introduction, more than 20,000 people were using it.

4.     In the early to mid 1900s, oil companies and department stores began issuing their own propriety cards, but cards could only be used at that particular store. While modern cards are used mainly for convenience, these early cards were meant to develop store loyalty and to improve customer service. The drawback was that people needed to bring dozens of different cards for a day of shopping.

5.     Bank of America apologized profusely in 2014 after it addressed a letter to political feminist writer Lisa McIntire as “Lisa is a slut McIntire.”

6.     The first general credit cards were made from paper and had a limit of $300.

7.     In the movie Fight Club (1999), the main character starts a fight club called Project Mayhem. Its aim is to erase debt by destroying buildings that hold credit card companies’ records.

8.     VISA was originally called BankAmericard and was offered by Bank of America in 1958 in California. It was renamed VISA in 1976.

9.     The reason credit cards expire is because the magnetic strip gets a lot of abuse and needs to be replaced. A magnetic strip is good for only about 3-4 years of swiping.

10.  Credit card numbers follow the Luhn algorithm, which is a checksum test on a number. To see how this works, start from the right and double each second digit (1111 becomes 2121), and then add them all together. You should end with a number evenly divisible by 10. If it doesn’t, the credit card is not a valid card.

11.  A gas pump will authorize a gas purchase for $50. So if someone has less than $50 available on his or her card, the pump will reject the card.

12.  The American household receives about six credit card offers a month.

13.  In 2006, credit card companies earned $90.1 billion in interest.

14.  MasterCard and VISA are a network of banks and financial institutions. American Express is its own company. Discover Card is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley.

15.  VISA stands for Visa International Service Association.

16.  The blue on the VISA logo represents the sky and gold represents the color of the hills in California where Bank of America was founded.

17.  Even as far back as the 1800s, merchants and consumers traded goods through the concept of credit. Both credit coins and charge plates were used as currency. It was only about 50 years ago that plastic became a way of life.

18.  In the 1970s, the U.S. Congress started to regulate the credit card industry. Among other things, they prohibited companies from mass mailing credit cards to people who had not requested them.

19.  In 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court in Smiley vs. Citibank lifted restrictions on the amount of late penalty fees a credit card company could charge. Additional deregulation has allowed very high interest rates to be charged.

20.  Charge plates, or Charga-Plates, predate credit cards. Used until the early 1960s, they were made from aluminum or white metal plates and were the size of dog tags. The backs had a paperboard insert with the issuer’s name and cardholder’s signature. They were sometimes kept in the stores (usually department stores) and retrieved by a clerk when someone wanted to use them.

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