I learned some interresting history the other day. Here’s the blame list for credit cards:

*Diner’s Club was the first charge card. It did not, originally, allow balance carry month-to-month.
*First Interstate Bank created MasterCard.
*Bank of America created Visa.
*Sears created Discover and it is still owned by Sears Holding Corp it’s shadow parent company in Schaumburg, Illinois.
*Wells Fargo created American Express (and was originally just a postal mail and delivery service).
*JC Penny refused to allow credit purchases while he was alive and in control of the company. The “C” in JC was the initial for “Cash.” Blame his sons.

*Most of this happened in the late 1960s. What an amazing marketing job banks have done to sell their product (which is debt)!

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