Tag Archives: local

History of Accepting Credit Cards (Page 1 of 2)

Charge cards can be dated back to the early 1900s. In 1914, what seems purely as a customer service goodwill gesture, Western Union gave some of their prominent (preferred) customers a metal card to be used in deferring payments-interest free-on services used. One source said this card became known as “Metal Money.”

As time progressed so did the charge card. Before the start of WWII, retailors, travel companies and gas stations offered this service to their special customers. These company based charge cards were limited by their use exclusively through the issuing company. These companies issued the cards, processed the transactions, and collected the debts from the customer.

In WW II, the use of credit and charge cards was prohibited.

After WW II, credit cards became more accessible to the general public After seeing trends indicating increased travel and spending among those who held charge cards, banks became interested in credit cards-after all they were in the business of lending money, and they saw the profit potential behind attaching interest to the cards.

When banks first got into the credit card business, they were only issuing cards to local consumers. In 1951, the Franklin National Bank in New York, issued the “Charge It” card. Which allowed customers to charge purchases at local stores. This charge card system worked much like credit card systems work today. The customer would make a purchase with the card; the merchant performed a credit authorization from the network, then completed the sale. The Banks paid the merchant and collected the funds from their customer later on. Other banks across the nation were impressed with the success of this process that within several years after the “Charge It” card they offered their customers similar services for making purchases at local retail establishments.

In the 1950s the first charge card was developed that allowed consumers to make charges for services and goods from a variety of retail outlets. This innovation was the Diner’s Club charge card, which was established for business men to use for travel and entertainment expenses. The Diner’s Club card gave its members up to 60-days to make payment.

The first “revolving-credit” card was issued in the State of California by the Bank of America. The card, BankAmericard, was marketed all across the state. This card set another milestone in the development of the credit card industry. The BankAmericard was the first card to give cardholders payment options. Payment options like today’s cards, let consumers pay the debt in whole or they could make monthly minimum payments while the banks charged interest on the remaining balances.

By the 1960s, bank card associations begun to emerge. In 1965, Bank of America issued licensing agreements to other banks-both large and small-across the nation. These licensing agreements permitted regional banks to issue BankAmericards and to exchange transactions through issuing banks.

Three Main Categories of Government Grants to Start a Business

For some reason when most people think of government grants to start a business, the the first and only source they think of is the federal government. For some reason people tend to look to the federal grant programs as being the most lucrative.

The fact is that grants are regularly given out by all three governing entities. That’s federal, state and local. Also you may be surprised at how lucrative a grant you can get from your city, even if it’s already strapped for cash.

In fact distressed cities have been known to hand out lucrative land grants to entrepreneurs in the hopes of seeing their economies get a boost. Not only can your business create jobs but it will also generate tax revenue for the city.

Also there’s nothing to stop you from getting government assistance from all three levels of government. Federal state and local. In fact it’s quite common and the one nice thing about grants from a city is that if they don’t already exist, you can petition the city to create one.

You can petition them through the city council to change zoning variances for you as well. However; there is one important thing to keep in mind if you plan to go this route. That is that your plan better be “real good” and benefit the city well.

Or if you don’t have a business plan how about this. Would you believe that both state and federal governments have lists of business types drawn up that they’re ready and waiting to hand out government grants to start a business for. Also in many cases they will even provide you with the training you need to run a business, if don’t already know how.