<P> Until 1958 , no one had been able to successfully establish a revolving credit financial system in which a card issued by a third - party bank was being generally accepted by a large number of merchants , as opposed to merchant - issued revolving cards accepted by only a few merchants . There had been a dozen attempts by small American banks , but none of them were able to last very long . In September 1958 , Bank of America launched the BankAmericard in Fresno , California , which would become the first successful recognizably modern credit card . This card succeeded where others failed by breaking the chicken - and - egg cycle in which consumers did not want to use a card that few merchants would accept and merchants did not want to accept a card that few consumers used . Bank of America chose Fresno because 45 % of its residents used the bank , and by sending a card to 60,000 Fresno residents at once , the bank was able to convince merchants to accept the card . It was eventually licensed to other banks around the United States and then around the world , and in 1976 , all BankAmericard licensees united themselves under the common brand Visa . In 1966 , the ancestor of MasterCard was born when a group of banks established Master Charge to compete with BankAmericard ; it received a significant boost when Citibank merged its own Everything Card , launched in 1967 , into Master Charge in 1969 . </P>
<P> Until 1958 , no one had been able to successfully establish a revolving credit financial system in which a card issued by a third - party bank was being generally accepted by a large number of merchants , as opposed to merchant - issued revolving cards accepted by only a few merchants . There had been a dozen attempts by small American banks , but none of them were able to last very long . In September 1958 , Bank of America launched the BankAmericard in Fresno , California , which would become the first successful recognizably modern credit card . This card succeeded where others failed by breaking the chicken - and - egg cycle in which consumers did not want to use a card that few merchants would accept and merchants did not want to accept a card that few consumers used . Bank of America chose Fresno because 45 % of its residents used the bank , and by sending a card to 60,000 Fresno residents at once , the bank was able to convince merchants to accept the card . It was eventually licensed to other banks around the United States and then around the world , and in 1976 , all BankAmericard licensees united themselves under the common brand Visa . In 1966 , the ancestor of MasterCard was born when a group of banks established Master Charge to compete with BankAmericard ; it received a significant boost when Citibank merged its own Everything Card , launched in 1967 , into Master Charge in 1969 . </P>
when were credit cards introduced in the us
when were credit cards introduced in the us
September 1958
September 1958