UK Credit Card 40 Years Old

Browsing the BBC site I noticed that the credit card is 40 years old in the UK. Card were first introduced by Barclays in 1966 and then with the advent of the Access card in 1972, cards became nmainstream. Initially the cards required that you pay the monthly balance in full but this changed with the introduction legislation that allowed debt to accumulate on the card.

My favourite quote in the piece is about the people that use credit cards:

"To all intents and purposes, these people form a self-defining, captive, sucker market."

Having been suckered once by the lure of these flexible friends I am sure to never get into the habit of putting it on the card again.

Click the title to go to the piece on the BBC web site.