In America, credit card history isn’t something most people think about. This is because credit, and thus credit cards, seem to be a timeless method of payment. However, the use of plastic payments is, for the most part, a twentieth century luxury. At the dawn of the 20th century, there wasn’t much of a system or practice to credit, at all. Today, most rely on the convenience of plastic for a numerous goods and services. How did credit become so prevalent, and who invented the first credit card?

Early Systems of Credit

During the 1920’s, the use of credit was regularly practiced in both the hotel, as well as the oil industries who commonly extended credit to their fondest customers. This practice then allowed patrons to pay for purchases or services later. Credit was first offered only from merchant to customer, who had to repay their debts directly with the original merchant.

Replicating the successes of hotel and oil companies, stores began offering lines of credit to attract new customers and boost customer loyalty. As a new concept of credit began to become more popular, merchants formed groups based on agreements to accept credit purchases from consumers with cards, all involving stores within their associations. This joining of forces gave consumers the luxury of shopping at a wide range of stores, while keeping the same agreement they had with the original merchant.

Early Charge Cards

John Briggins later created the charge card when he introduced the “Charge-It” program in the mid-1940s, which permitted merchants to directly deposit sales slips at their bank and, in turn, the bank would then bill that merchant’s credit customers. A few years later, the Diner’s Club card made it’s debut, allowing customers to dine at their choice of 27 restaurants in New York, and settle their bill later. Though the “Charge It” method, and the Diner’s Club agreements share roles in the foundations of the modern system of credit, neither are considered true credit programs. At that time, customers had to pay the entire amount due at each billing. Of course, this is in contrast to installment payments currently accepted by most credit card companies today. Such affords customers the opportunity to carry balances over several months. Each of these early programs, though, has its place in the invention of true credit cards, as these programs are the conceptual foundations upon which today’s credit system was eventually created.

American Express and Bank of America Take Credit to New Heights

In 1958, American Express offered their premier charge card with Bank of America debuting the Bankamericard later that year. Soon after this, the Bankamericard was rebranded the VISA card, and was the first credit card to be universally acceptable by merchants across the USA, the world, and universally used by consumers.

Credit Cards Then and Now

Recalling the invention of the credit card unveils a perfect illustration of how rapidly strong business ideas will spread and transform how business is done worldwide. In a short amount of time, the credit card became an incredibly popular and convenient tool that’s frequently used in the marketplace. Knowing their purpose, and how they came to exist, gives better perspective on their use and function today.

We’ll be clear you should always reduce your credit card debt no matter what you owe. If you ask, it is time to see

Debts are stressful, we all know that but if you don’t take action today, the stress will become unmanageable..

Sometimes, people is wondering: “can you go to jail for credit card debt?” Most of the time, no, you won’t be sued.

Here are a few tips to help you reduce your credit card debts

Steps to Reduce Credit Card Debt

• Assess Your Situation: Take a moment to figure out how much debt do you have, what kind of debt is it. Compare your debts with your income. Having a complete picture of your financial situation will help you create a personal plan to pay off your debt and get your finances back on a positive track.
• First, you need to Define a realistic monthly Budget . If you really want to reduce your debts, you must evaluate how much money you get from your job every month. Then you calculate all your expenses like food, house, electricity, insurance, car,… If your expenses are higher than your revenues, you need to change something: new job, new home, selling your car,…
• Cut every extra expenses. Theatre, cable, new clothes every week, restaurants,… If you buy a Starbucks Coffee every day of the week, it costs you near $100 per month. Do you really need it? Cut your Credit Card Cut your card or put it in the freezer. You can keep your credit card for emergency but for the daily purchases, pay cash.
• Consolidate your credit card debts. You may try to find a new credit card with lower interest rate. Then, you move all your debts from your other credit cards to this new credit card. Or, a better solution, you go to your local bank and you ask for a debt consolidation. Don’t forget to cut your credit cards, you don’t consolidation to have more debts!

These are just a few tricks to help you reduce your credit card debts.. Take action today. It is in your interest!

Do you have already have accounts like a car loan, mortgage, or checking account with a bank already? If you do then maybe you should apply with them. This way it makes it easier to keep all of your finances with one bank instead of a bunch of different ones. Transferring money between accounts to pay bills is and view balances is much easier now. Calling customer service is much easier because now they have all of your info in front of them making it easier to answer your questions.

Most people have accounts with different banks already. Smaller companies need your business and will provide better customer service. The interest rates with their cards might be higher but you will probably be able to negotiate those because they need you as a client. They cannot afford to lose you. Customer service at a smaller company is usually better as they do not have to deal with as many clients as big banks.

If service does not matter to you and its options that you want then a large secured credit card company is your best bet. The bigger banks have so many different types of credit cards to choose from its almost over whelming. You should be able to narrow it down eventually. The customer service might not be as good as a smaller bank but you can get what you want as they are competing against other large banks for your business.

Whatever route you take when applying with credit card companies, you need to make sure you do your home work. Put the first credit card application aside and look over a couple different ones until you find the perfect credit card. 

Take your smaller credit card balances and combine them on a lower interest card to save money. Youíll be paying one interest rate rather than several. You also only be making one payment rather than several small payments. This gives you more time to pay off your debts. If you can keep yourself from using the other credit cards, youíll be able to pay your debt back without a problem.

Youíll have a lot of unnecessary stress in your life if you are not able to pay your bills. That stress can be reduced drastically by pursuing debt consolidation as a form of credit card debt relief programs. Before you commit yourself to debt consolidation, first run the numbers to make sure that it will help you eliminate your debts. Getting quotes from a few different debt consolidation companies can help you determine if it will help you pay down your debt and what kind of cash flow youíll have.

The single, smaller monthly payment, increased cashflow, and eventual payoff that debt consolidation offers all add up to a very realistic credit card debt relief programs option. It’s definitely worth your consideration. In addition to debt consolidation, some companies offer debt management services. They may be able to negotiate better interest rates from your creditors getting you an even better credit card debt relief programs plan.

Because the credit card debt relief programs actions taken by these companies can sometimes lower your credit score, you should be careful about choosing to use debt consolidation. They can prove to be more than you bargained for, especially if they offer you easy, unsecured loans; these usually come with abnormally high interest rates.

If you need a simple and easy, step-by-step kit to get you out of debt once and for all, be sure to reference Suze Orman FICA. Suze has put together a world class software product that anyone can follow and climb their way out of debt easily.

Credit doesn’t seem important until you need it.Does bad credit keep you from getting a credit card at a decent rate.  Most people want to pay their bills, and remain in good credit standing.Difficult financial situations in your past may deter credit card companies from giving you approval for a traditional credit card.  There is a way around this problem. 

Getting a better credit rating is possible. You just have to find a company that understands your situation.These are the companies that offer secured credit cards.Most companies offer secured credit cards that require you to deposit money to get credit.Use this card just like a regular credit card but you are limited to the amount of your deposit.Be sure the credit card company reports these secured cards to the credit bureaus.Make sure they report. Otherwise it’s no better than a debit card.   In extremely simplified terms when a secured card sends reports to the major credit reporting agencies they are showing that you are paying off your debits, and you are less of a credit risk. 

Here’s a brief example of how these cards really work.  On the surface it works just like a debit card.  Let’s say you made a $200 deposit to your secured credit card.You then spend $20 at a restaurant.  Your account balance is almost immediately reduced by $20 to $180.These credit card companies report your information to the major credit agencies.The credit card company will notify the reporting agency that you made a purchase on your card and the bill was paid.  As far as the reporting agency is concerned you are making good on your charges.  This is a sign of a good borrower.Reporting agencies see that you are less of a risk and bump up your credit score.  After time you become more appealing to other credit card companies and you will more readily be accepted for traditional credit cards. 

Improving your credit will take time and effort.  There are many other things that factor into your credit score, but this is one action that you can take on your own.For many people, obtaining a secured credit card is the first step to repairing damaged credit.Don’t expect your credit score to immediately sky rocket.  It will take some time, but it’s better than sitting back, passively hoping that things will get better. 

Be sure to read and understand the terms and conditions before applying for any credit card. 

Did you know that in most credit card contracts there is a clause that means your card provider can raise the amount of interest you are paying if you simply miss or are slightly late with only one payment? You may think you are on a great low interest rate credit card account, but if you are slow in making a payment, your rate may jump to 20% or higher overnight.

Obviously, if you have had this happen to you, the best thing to do is to transfer the outstanding amount for that account over to a new specialised balance transfer credit card account which can even have zero interest for the life of the transfer amount. What this means is that you can be paying 0% interest instead of the 20% or even more you might have been paying up until now.

You will not want to do this if you use your credit card for general everyday spending though, because these cards have a high amount of interest attached to any additional spending. This is where the provider makes it’s money from you. If you want a card for regular spending such as groceries, you can reap some great rewards from certain credit card accounts that provide low interest for your everyday spending along with an interest free period, and also rewards according to the amount you have spent.

With any credit card you need to make sure you keep up with, at the very least, the minimum monthly repayment. If you use it regularly, it is recommended that you only spend what you already have in cash and can afford on the card, and pay this amount off fully each month. This way you still benefit from the rewards for spending, but you will not get behind and owe interest on top as well.