The appearance of credit cards in the United States is no accident, which is closely related to the evolution of American monetary system, the rise of consumer credit and the development of American economy at that time. In the mid-19th century, the degree of industrialization and urbanization in the United States was greatly accelerated, the scale of enterprises expanded rapidly, and commercial trade was quite developed. Spontaneous installment sales and consumer credit behaviors appeared among the people. By the 192s, some large retailers had provided monthly installment accounts to some high-quality customers, which greatly increased consumers' credit consumption activities. It is in this context that many credit certificates similar to credit cards, which can be used to buy goods on credit, came into being, and consumers got an advanced enjoyment.

Embarrassed experiences give birth to credit cards

In daily life, credit purchase is the oldest prototype of credit cards, but when it comes to expressing it with a small card, it finally casts its brilliance. Some media once listed the credit card as one of the greatest inventions of human society in the 2th century. Compared with airplanes and computers, this praise is really not excessive.

Under normal circumstances, it is very embarrassing to invite friends to dinner without money. For ordinary people, I wish I could dig a crack in the ground and get in. However, it is also such an embarrassment, but it has made an extraordinary person create a miracle in the financial industry-he is Frank McNamara, president of a credit company in new york.

Although the "uncle who eats food" in the illustration is not good at eating, it cannot be underestimated. Without this uncle, we may not be able to use credit cards today. He is McNamara, the founder of Diners Club. From the deduction of many materials, it is written as a story: One day in 1949, Frank McNamara, president of a credit company in new york, USA, hosted Alfred Bloomingdale and Snyder for dinner in a restaurant in new york. After a full meal, Frank McNamara found that he didn't bring his wallet out at all, which made both the host and the guest extremely embarrassed. After McNamara's wife made a special trip to pay the bill, Frank, who was embarrassed, discovered the problem of monetary payment, so he had the idea of creating a credit card company.

In fact, according to relevant records, the idea of Diners Credit Card gradually developed from many conversations between Schneider and McNamara. At that time, Schneider was also an important member of Diners Club. He was a lawyer himself, and McNamara was his customer and friend. Both of them were active figures in new york business circles. The two men realized that the previous personal credit business needed to be improved, and finally set their goal on issuing a new credit tool such as "Credit Card". As a result, the Diners Credit Card, which was born later, undoubtedly provided business travelers with a convenient means of payment and recording for meals, accommodation and other reimbursement items to the company.

In the spring of p>195, McNamara and his partner Schneider invested 1, yuan in partnership, and registered and established the first credit card company-"DinersClub International" in new york, which was later reorganized into Diners Club International. Diners Club implements the membership system and provides members with a card that can prove their identity and ability to pay. Initially, they signed acceptance agreements with 14 restaurants in new york and distributed "Dinka" to a specific group of people. With the card, members can charge to the account in the restaurant, and then Dalai Company acts as the payment intermediary, delaying the accounting settlement between the consumers. The prototype of credit card was born.

on the first anniversary of card issuance, Diners Club has 42, diners club cardholders, and each cardholder has to pay $18 as an annual fee. At this time * * * 33 restaurants, hotels and nightclubs accepted Diners Club, and these accepting merchants need to pay about 7% of the cardholder's bill. In March 1951 alone, Diners Club handled a transaction amount of $3 million and earned a pre-tax profit of $6,. By 1956, Dinka's annual transaction volume exceeded 29 million US dollars, with 9, special merchants, covering travel and entertainment merchants. In 1958, the annual transaction volume exceeded $465 million, and the profit from the discount rate of merchants and the annual fee of cardholders was $4 million. Dinka has established itself as the leader in the industry in one fell swoop.

In 1958, Schneider (sitting on the left) and Alfred Blooming (standing in the middle), one of the founders of Dinka, were signing a cooperation agreement with Sheraton Hotels.

Dinka struggles

Soon after Dinka was issued, it faced fierce market competition. National CreditCard (Inc.) began to operate credit card business in 1951, but declared bankruptcy in 1954. In 1955, Trip-Charge and many other credit card companies began to operate, which brought strong market competition resistance to the development of Diner's Card. Especially in 1951, Franklin National Bank issued a credit card, which was the first for banks to issue credit cards. About 1 banks also issued credit cards. Of course, this kind of credit card was only a debit card that paid the full amount of the monthly payment, but it could not stop the historical trend that banks began to issue credit cards.

ten years after Dinka was issued, only Dinka survived as a franchise company, and it also acquired some other credit card companies that failed in business at that time. In 1958, a new competitor appeared, which had a great impact on the future credit card market, that is, AmericanExpress, which became a crucial year in the development history of the credit card industry.

Although Dinka has experienced operational dangers and fierce competition from the market, Dinka is still in a difficult journey, taking it as a travel and entertainment (T&: E) The monopoly position in the industry lasted for nearly ten years and reached the peak of development in the early 196s.

Diners Club began to turn around and go downhill in the 197s. On the one hand, a large number of cardholders gave up using Diners Card due to the shrinking of the whole industry; on the other hand, there were huge problems in their own operation; on the other hand, the fierce industry competition and a large number of banks involved in the credit card field all made Diners Club's business situation fall into a trough. Although Diners Club never gave up its efforts to save itself in the late 197s, it ended in failure for various reasons. In December 198, Diners Club was acquired by Citibank, completing its 3-year independent development.

Historical evaluation of Diners Club

Although Diners Club is still in operation, it is no longer brilliant. However, no matter what the status quo of Diners Club is today, it is undeniable that Diners Club has a historical position as a pioneer of modern credit card industry. Frank McNamara, alfred Blooming and Ralph Snyder have made indelible historical contributions to the birth, formation and development of credit card industry.

It was Dinka that initiated the credit card era, which laid a solid foundation for the later development of the credit card industry, and even the birth and development of giants in the credit card industry such as VISA, MasterCard, AE, MBNA, CapitalOne, DiscoverCard, etc.

The photo of Alfred Blooming, the founder of Diners' Card, with his wife and his tombstone photo were found on Amazon. Let's remember Frank McNamara, alfred Blooming and Ralph Snyder, three great men who started a payment era.

to be continued: the history of credit cards (3) American Express Card.