Credit

Fun Facts About Credit Cards

• The first widely used credit card, launched by Diners Club in 1950, was made of cardboard. This was primarily due to lower production costs, and the lack of established infrastructure for plastic which only became standard with American Express in 1959.
• The idea for the Diners Club card came to the inventor when he forgot his wallet at a restaurant. He wanted a multipurpose charge card to avoid such embarrassment in the future.
• The vast majority of credit cards are plastic. But elite status cards, such as Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Preferred, are made from materials like stainless steel, titanium, brass, or palladium.
• The magnetic stripe first appeared on a functional plastic card in 1960. But it wasn't adopted as a U.S. standard until 1969, and internationally until 1971.
• Credit card numbers are structured, not random. The first digit is the Major Industry Identifier (where 4 represents Visa, 5 or 2 for Mastercard, etc). The next 5–6 digits identify the issuing bank, followed by the account number, and a last digit check to prevent fraud — about 15–16 digits in total.
• Global payment networks like Visa and Mastercard process millions of credit card transactions every minute. Their networks are capable of processing up to 65,000 transactions per second.
• Credit cards have expiration dates primarily to enhance security and to combat fraud. But also to address wear and tear, since constant use can damage the magnetic strip or the EMV chip.
• The 3 or 4 digit CVV (Card Verification Value) security code on the back of most credit cards today was introduced in the mid-1990s for "card-not-present" transactions, such as mail-order, by telephone, and for early online shopping.