Until the 1920's, consumer purchases in the United States were made primarily in one of two ways: cash or personal check. But in that decade, a new means of payment was introduced—the credit account. While credit transactions had been common for a long time in business to business dealings, they were new to the consumer market. The credit account allowed a consumer to defer payment on a purchase made today to some time in the future: thus, the expression "buy now, pay later" was born. Evidence of the credit account typically took the form of a card— the credit card.

Since the 1920's, different types of credit cards have emerged. In addition, related types of cards have also appeared on the consumer scene: the debit card, as well as the ATM card and the smart card, and the travel card and...