Funny Money Friday: Early American Credit Card

Money doesn't have to be boring! Each week, CreditBloggers.com takes a look at the lighter side of the personal finance world in a series called Funny Money Friday.

It's easy to forget that credit cards are a fairly recent addition to American culture. The whole thing got started back in the 30's and 40's with department store charge cards. The first general purpose credit cards weren't issued until the 1950's by Diner's Club, Bank of America and American Express. For this week's Funny Money Friday, we're taking a look back at some of the ancestors of the modern credit card:

Charge Plates - Issued by department stores to customers with established accounts. One charge plate from a store called Capwell's advertises: "This card will be honored at Capwell's under regular credit procedures. Please use this plate when making purchases as it will identify you quickly, speed your purchase and assure accuracy. For your protection if this card is lost or stolen, notify Capwell's credit office immediately."

Metal Credit Cards - Sort of a hybrid of the metal charge plates and modern plastic credit cards. This example is from Sears. Department stores also often issued small metal tokens that worked as charge cards, a precursor to the keychain credit card.

Paper Cards - Paper was a lot easier to carry in your wallet but wasn't as durable as the metal plates. This example is a Shell Gasoline charge card from the 1930's. Check out the back side of the card for a great historical example of credit card "fine print."

Plastic Cards - Plastic credit cards became popular in the 1960's but they still were not uniform in shape or design.

Modern Credit Cards - The shape and features we now recognize became widespread in the 1970's. Still, the first electronic terminal would only be developed in 1979 to replace paper deposit slips. Security holograms started appearing on cards in the 1980's and computer chips in the 1990's.

We've come a long way from these metal and paper credit cards to the magnetic and plastic cards in use today! In another few years our plastic cards will probably be obsolete themselves. Already, many cards only need to be waved over the machine instead of swiped. And in Japan cell phone chips have become the trendy way to pay. 

What do you think the credit card of the future will be like? Share your feedback and ideas in the comment section below. Happy Friday!