Although the country is synonymous with banking, the first European banks opened in port cities with access to the sea such as Venice(1584), the Netherlands (1609) and the UK (1694). Despite being landlocked, Switzerland still managed to surpass the others when it came to banking and finances.
In ancient Egypt and Rome, a borrower who failed to repay a loan was thrown in Debtor’s Prison and given a month to repay the money owed, failing which they were sold as slaves to recover the money.
The concept of banks originated during the Mesopotamian civilization. The first 'banks' were predominantly temples where grains and precious stones were stored and traded.
The word 'bank' is derived from the Italian word 'banca' meaning bench. These benches were used by Jews during the Renaissance period to disburse loans in the marketplace.
In the 19th century, farmers would need to use credit at their local store for at least part of the year because their income was seasonal and so Stores handed over credit cards made of Cardboard to identify their customers and accounts.
John Briggs created the first bank-issued credit card which was called the "Charge-It" card, in 1946 with Flatbush National Bank of New York. In 1950, Frank McNamara, head of Hamilton Credit Corporation, created the Diners Club card — the first credit card that could be used in more than one store.
Most credit card companies send you a new card before your current one expires. But your account should still be valid — you just need to ask your card issuer for a new card.
Valid credit card numbers follow a formula known as the Luhn algorithm. You can check if your card is invalid with this algorithm.
You may have noticed that all of your cards from the same provider start with the same number. That isn't an accident. The first digit of a credit card indicates what industry issued the card like Airline, Entertainment, Travel, Gas Industry, etc.
Until the passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, women could not get a credit card without a husband as a co-signer.
As of 2013, there were over 1.635 billion credit cards in circulation around the world, according to SuperMoney. If all of those cards were laid end-to-end, they would stretch over 86,981 miles, which would circle the earth three and a half times.
The American Bankers Association estimated in March of 2009 that there are nearly 10,000 credit card transactions occurring every single second worldwide.