Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Katrina Gulliver
“Credit itself, in various forms, goes back a long way. Everyday consumers of the 19th century may have been familiar with shopkeepers allowing them to pay on a weekly or monthly basis. In the 20th century, department stores’ customer accounts became the direct precursor of credit cards. Valued customers were allowed to run up a tab and pay on a monthly basis. … The limitation, of course, was that these accounts were store-specific. Having credit with Bloomingdale’s in New York wouldn’t help much if a shopper went to London and wanted to charge a fur coat at Harrods. Increased travel drove the need for this new, portable credit form. The first real credit card to meet this need was Diners Club.” (02/14/25)
https://fee.org/articles/how-diners-club-sparked-the-consumer-credit-revolution/