The 29th June 2006 marks the 40th anniversary of the introduction of the credit card. Although initially there were only a few cards in issue which were accepted in only a handful of retail outlets, within a short
period of time the credit card became an important part of our daily lives.

The last 40 years

1966 - On 29 June 1966 Barclays issues the UK’s first credit card –Barclaycard - based on the BankAmericard that had been issued a few years earlier in the USA. In the year England won the World Cup, cash and cheques were the main forms of payment in the UK, less than one in four of the UK population had a current account and people would have received their wages in cash.

1972 - The Access credit card, which was known as our 'flexible friend' was launched by Midland Bank, National Westminster Bank and Lloyds Bank.

1977 - On 1st July 1977 the Consumer Credit Act 1974 came into force. Section 75 of the action gave protection to consumers buying goods costing between £30 and £10,000 (increased to £100 and
£30,000 subsequently) on their credit card.

1987 - The first debit card was launched in the UK by Barclays under the Connect brand. Midland, National Westminster Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland follow closely in 1988 issuing debit cards under the Switch brand which became Maestro in 2004.

1999 - Half of all UK adults had a credit card. The average value of a credit card purchase exceeded £50 for the first time. Also in this year internet card issuers Egg, Smile and Marbles entered the marketplace.

2003 - Chip and PIN cards are introduced in order to combat fraud.

2006 - The UK is now a plastic society, as debit and credit cards have overtaken cash as our most popular method of payment. In 2005 there were 31.6 million credit cardholders in the UK with an average number of 2.4 credit cards per person. We spent £124 billion on credit cards through the 790,000 retail outlets that now accept plastic card payments.