February 1950 - Frank McNamara and his partner (lawyer) Ralph Schneider created Diners Club; presented small, cardboard card at Major's Cabin Grill, New York City restaurant; signed for the purchase; known as the "First Supper"; May 13, 1950 - Diner's Club issued first credit cards to 200 people, most of whom are personal friends and acquaintances; 14 New York restaurants agree to accept the card; 1949 - had had dinner, left wallet in another suit; wife paid, resolved never to be embarrassed again.

1951 - Donald McCullough launched Finders Services, first credit card service in Britain; 1962 - merged Credit Card Services to become Diners' Club.

October 1, 1958 - American express introduced travel-and-entertainment charge card (paper printed with purple ink to resemble Travelers Cheques; 1959 - introduced plastic cards; 1966 - launched Gold Card.

1966 - Yasuo Takei founded Takefufi Corporation, consumer credit company. June 2006 - Forbes.com ranked Takei second richest man in Japan, worht $5.6 billion (behind Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank, worth $7 billion).

September 12, 1997 - A Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) report announced that the country's annualized losses on bank credit cards had ballooned to its highest level in 14 years. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), which issued the findings, the losses accounted for 5.22% of every $100 charged to the nation's credit cards; bankruptcy amounted to roughly half of "bank credit card charge-offs."

September 2008 - Credit card solicitations have slowed (biggest mailer of card offers - Chase, followed by American Express, Bank of America).

(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/09/07/business/07count-graf.jpg)

Hugh Barty-King with a foreword by Sir Gordon Borrie (1991). The Worst Poverty: A History of Debt and Debtors. (Wolfeboro, NH: A. Sutton Pub., 214 p.). Consumer credit--Great Britain--History; Debt--Great Britain--History.

Lendol Calder (1999). Financing the American Dream: A Cultural History of Consumer Credit. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 377 p.). Consumer credit--United States--History; Consumption (Economics)--United States--History; Consumers--United States--History.

David S. Evans and Richard Schmalensee (2005). Paying with Plastic: The Digital Revolution in Buying and Borrowing. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 367 p. [2nd ed.]). Vice Chairman of LECG Europe; John C. Head III Dean and Professor of Management and Economics at the Sloan School of Management (MIT). Credit cards--United States; Bank credit cards--United States; Electronic funds transfers--United States; Electronic commerce--United States; Consumer credit--United States. 

Margot C. Finn (2003). The Character of Credit: Personal Debt in English Culture, 1740-1914. (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 362 p.). English prose literature--History and criticism; Economics and literature--Great Britain--History; Consumption (Economics)--Great Britain--History; Finance, Personal--Great Britain--History; Consumption (Economics) in literature; Credit--Great Britain--History; Debt--Great Britain--History; Economics in literature; Debt in literature; Great Britain--Economic conditions. Ability to get credit depended  on social status.

Lloyd Klein (1999). It's in the Cards: Consumer Credit and the American Experience. (Westport, CT: Praeger, 155 p.). Consumer credit--Social aspects--United States; Consumer credit--United States; Credit cards--United States.

Scott B. MacDonald, Albert L. Gastmann (2001). A History of Credit and Power in the Western World. (Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 314 p.). Credit--History; Finance--History; Finance, Public--History; Power (Social sciences)--History; Political science--Economic aspects--History; Economic history; World history.

Lewis Mandell (1990). The Credit Card Industry: A History. (Boston, MA: Twayne Publishers, 176 p.). Credit cards--United States--History; Consumer credit--United States--History.

Robert D. Manning (2000). Credit Card Nation: The Consequences of America's Addiction to Credit. (New York, NY: Basic Books, 406 p.). Credit cards--United States; Consumer credit--United States.

Martha L. Olney (1991). Buy Now, Pay Later: Advertising, Credit, and Consumer Durables in the 1920s. (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 424 p.). Durable goods, Consumer--Purchasing--United States--History; Advertising--United States--History; Consumer credit--United States--History. 

Jesse Rainsford Sprague (1943). The Romance of Credit. (New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 253 p.). Credit.

James D. Scurlock (2007). Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit, and the Era of Predatory Lenders. (New York, NY: Scribner, 248 p.). Consumer credit--United States; Debt--United States. Enormity of consumer debt in our society and its consequences. Americans' use and misuse of credit. Very real, potentially disastrous systems and policies that are consuming millions of Americans.