Originated in the United States.

The first credit card was issued in the 1920s. Several U.S. oil companies came up with the idea of ??issuing a card that would allow customers to buy gasoline and pay for it later. It was a simple and practical idea, but it did not catch on for a long time.

Another early credit card was the Diners Club card, issued in 1950 by Ralph Schneider of New York. The card allows club members to dine at 27 New York restaurants. Initially, these credit cards could only be used in a very limited number of consumer locations. But Schneider soon came up with the idea of ??extending the card's availability to retail stores and wholesalers. Soon someone was designing a "universal" card that worked almost everywhere.

In 1958, the first bank card, Bank of America's "Banca America Card", was adopted. Credit card symbols are now so familiar that they have become an international language. Banks around the world display the credit cards they accept.