TRANSCRIPT:

Picture this: You’re having a delicious lunch with your best friend. It’s wonderful, you laughed, you gossiped, you talked about your life issues, you caught up after god-knows-how-long! You think out loud “we should do this more often”. Thankfully this time you picked a nice spot, because last time it wasn’t so good. Your friend paid last time, so this time you pick up the bill. When you open your wallet, you notice you have no cash! Thankfully, you have a credit card.

You have this benefit in the 21st century. But 100 years ago? forget it!

Welcome to Further Records, the podcast where you can stay One Step Ahead with your English practice. I’m your host, Forest.

Turns out, this EXACT lunch situation happened in 1949 to a man called Frank McNamara. Except, there were no credit cards. The New York businessman was having lunch with some clients, when he opened his wallet and found himself completely penniless. With great shame, he had to call his wife to cover for him, which made him quite embarrassed. That’s when he came up with an idea that would change the entire world as we know it: The credit card… for restaurants.

Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day, you know? It takes time for a new technology to get popular, and credit cards are no exception. The first credit cards were store-specific. Frank McNamara created the Diners’ Club card. It’s exactly what it sounds like, a card for people who dine at restaurants!

One year later, he tested the card at that exact restaurant. He gave the waiter a cardboard card, which had the phrase Diners’ Club. The way it worked is almost the same as how cards work today. His company paid the restaurants, and the people who used the cards then paid Diners’ Club.

At first, the card was not universal at all, but McNamara was a clever businessman. He got many other restaurants to work with the network. Then, the company collaborated with hotels, airports, and so on.

In just 3 years, Diners Club had over 40 thousand members, and had gotten approval to be used in the UK, Canada, Cuba, and Mexico. This made it the first international charge card.

In 1958, American Express created their own cards. Did you know American Express used to be a transportation company? I didn’t, but now the name makes sense. Around this time they got the idea to be a money services company. First it was money orders, then travellers’ checks. This was a safer way for people to transport large amounts of money. In 1958, American Express created their first card. The difference this time was that the merchants paid Amex a small fee for every payment. This was the first form of what is now known as interchange fees.

Later, that same year, the Bank of America created BankAmericard (I know, super creative name). They created a card with a pre-approved limit of $300, and gave it for free to 60 thousand people… Which was a terrible idea, as a lot of people used it for illegal activities. But the idea was good, and many years later, BankAmericard would change its name to Visa.

Why Visa? Because the name is easy to pronounce in multiple languages. Until that point, the cards were used worldwide, and had different names and logos everywhere. With the name change, they began to be more easily recognized. And to be honest, who doesn’t know about Visa?

BankAmericard was hugely successful, and a group of Californian banks noticed it. In 1966, they created the Interbank Card Association. This was the first card accepted by several banks instead of just one bank. The Intercard was the second most popular credit card at the time, and is still the second most popular today? You may recognize it by its new name: Mastercard.

Since then, credit cards have remained mostly the same. Most of the changes were in technology and security. But the concept remained the same, and the use of credit cards is almost universal now.

Who would’ve thought that a simple card could change the entire world in just a few years? And it all started with one lunch, and one lost wallet. Just make sure to pay your card on time, otherwise you’ll have to call your wife again.

You’ve been listening to Further Records, a podcast by Further Corporate.

In this episode, we used certain phrases associated with today’s topic! Have you heard of these before?

• Penniless: Extremely poor, it means you don’t even have a penny in your wallet!
• Rome wasn’t built in a day: An expression which means that great things take time.
• Fee: A payment that must be done in order to complete a service.
• To pick up the bill: When you’re in a restaurant, the person that picks up the bill is the one who pays
• To cover for him: When you cover for someone, it means you get them out of trouble.
• Traveler’s check: A type of check which can be accepted in many countries, and can be replaced if stolen.

If you would like to continue boosting your English journey, you can see more of our episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

We want to hear from you too! If there’s any topic you would like us to discuss on the podcast, let us know on our instagram account! It’s @furtherlanguges.

Remember to leave us 5 stars wherever you listen to the podcast! It helps us a lot.

Thank you for listening.

Music and SFX:

Music: Savour The Moment by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com