Your First Credit Card

[DWalt]

Am sitting here watching a program on The History Channel about the origin of credit cards as a major transformative business. Very interesting.

It got me thinking about my first credit cards. It was when I got my first job after I graduated college in 1965. That job required me to travel a lot so the company gave me two of them. One was an Air Travel card to get airline tickets. The second was a Diners Club card for everything else. The Diners Club card was first on the market. Pretty neat, I really felt like a big shot, spending all that company money. The company paid the CC bills directly but I had to give them the receipts when I filed my expense account. Back then, many places did not accept credit cards so I had to pay them with cash, then put them on my expense account. Today, I usually put every purchase of anything on a card and carry no cash at all. But I have to pay the CC bill out of my own pocket. How things have changed.

I remember that back around that time, my father thought credit cards were instruments of Satan and refused to get one. In fact, he didn't think much of using bank checks either. For him, using greenbacks was the only way to go. And he was an accountant by trade. His guiding principle was that if you were not able to pay cash for something, you don't need it. That was how I was raised.

 

[Onomea]

I think I was about 20. First a Master Charge, and then a year or two later, an American Express card, which was harder to qualify for. I was especially proud of that American Express card. Both of those were my personal cards.

After grad school, which I was in forever — ten years as a penurious grad student — when I got my start in the corporate world as a business development guy, I was issued an AMEX card and an expense account. I asked one of my new colleagues, "So, um, who is in charge of this expense account?" He said, "You are," and I thought, "Okie-dokie. I can do this!," and took off running...

 

[JohnRippert]

My first was a Palais Royal, second was Montgomery Wards, and third was a Sears. I still have the leather bomber jacket I bought with the MW's card. Down to a Visa and AMEX that I pay off every month these days.

 

[Exaviator]

Definitely a Diners card issued around 1960. At the time, a young naval pilot officer and able to settle the restaurant bill with a card and a signature, certainly impressed any young woman that was my date for the evening. Little did she know that it probably took a few weeks to pay off the account...

 

[pawngal]

My first was also a Diners Club thru Standard Oil, probably 1967. Next was JC Penney.

 

[Buford57]

A Mobil gas charge card was part of my wife's dowry. Never had one before that. My folks had a J.C. Penney card, which Dad was sure would bankrupt them, but never did.

Interestingly enough, when Mom died last month I called to cancel her Discover card, which was her only credit. They told me she had a zero balance. A week later I got a condolence letter that said she had up to $25,000 loan forgiveness available and they were reviewing her account. The following week they sent a $69 check for the balance in her loyalty points.

My opinion of Discover has changed, but I'll still stick with AmEx.

 

[Golddollar]

Out of the clear blue sky I was sent a VISA card when I was the ripe old age of 14. Mom impounded it immediately.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I was up in that Hoosier Land.
The Big Chicago sent teams to the hitherland to convince the local yokel banks to sign up for Visa.
And sign they did! The Chicago folks sent apparently every Hoosier Bank Customer a card. The limit was low, I think it was $500.
The team signed up local businesses to accept the cards.
Initially the businesses didn’t know how to process or verify the cards.
But it’s fascinating how quickly people learn how to extract money from other people!

 

[Rudi]

My first was a Monkey Wards card. Bought cheap stuff that I needed. Payed it off every month to build credit. Worked out well.

 

[arjay]

I was raised to pay cash or do without.Sometime after I married I got a visa or Mastercard in my late twenties. I had good credit as I’d taken a loan to buy a new truck at 24.(My old vw had let me down one too many times lol)

 

[Chuck24]

Bank Americard, 500.00 limit, 1970. Always had to ask businesses if they took plastic. When my niece got her first one, she just thought that it was the greatest thing ever until she found out about that you gotta pay ‘em back part.

 

[TX-Dennis]

I'm pretty sure Sears was my first. Used it for appliances, auto parts, and tools.

 

[lihpster]

56 years old. Never had one.

 

[bushmaster1313]

In high school 50 years ago I wanted a credit card to start building credit and I got one at Brooks Bros. I bought the cheapest thing I could find in the store. I think it was a stocking cap.

 

[DUSTYDOGDAN]

Sears or a Northwest tire store called Brunell tire store.

 

[DWalt]

I remember that in the 70s many stores came out with their own independent credit cards. The major oil companies, Sears, Wards, J. C. Penney's, Marshall Fields, and similar large retail chains. I remember having both a Sears card and a Penney's card around that time. Mainly because both screwed up my accounts and I cancelled them. I am pretty sure I also had a gasoline credit card, don't remember which one, maybe Shell. You don't see that today as every retailer takes Visa and MasterCard. I suppose American Express and Diners Club may still issue credit cards, but I have neither. I don't know why anyone would want either one today. My wife has a Kohl's card because they sometimes have sales for Kohl's cardholders. She very seldom uses it.

 

[Muley Gil]

Mine was a Sears card. Bought a 5" bench vise. It is bolted to the workbench in my shop, 47 years later.

 

[BC38]

IIRC my first credit card was a Discover card - offered trough Sears Finance.

I was already buying Craftsman tools from Sears on a pretty regular basis, and they offered me a Discover card as a way to buy their tools on credit (pay for them over time).

Seemed like a pretty reasonable proposition to me, as a 22 year old kid with limited resources, on a tight budget, and wanting to build up my credit rating.

 

[Tom S.]

First card was Sears and I was 18. The local Sear's store always ran an ad in the local paper on Monday called "Thrifty Monday Specials". They always had at least one tool or tool set listed, and if it was something I even remotely thought I might someday need, I would try to buy it. At the time, I didn't always have the cash and I made mention of this to a saleslady one time. She suggested I get a Sears Credit Card and said they would give them to people 18, so I applied and got one. I used it a few times but was intelligent enough to know it wasn't money for nothing and never let a balance carry over. I still have all the tools today unless one was broken/worn out (and replaced under their lifetime warranty) or lost. They weren't comparable to Snap-On, but they got the job done and didn't break my piggy bank.

 

[ZGrand]

When I graduated from college and got my first job, I applied for my first credit card - an American Express card. They declined my application. So I got a Master Charge card instead. Later in life, AmEx used to send me pre-approval letters and even call me with pre-approved offers for a card. I told them I was just as credit worthy when I first applied as I am now, and where they could stick their credit card.