The video posted below is a great walk-through on the history of credit cards.
It starts with how credit started in the U.S. with individual merchants in the late 1800s. It takes us through the 1950s when Diners Club was the first independent credit card company in the world, and describes how Bank of America (BAC, Financial) introduced its own credit card that eventually evolved into the Visa (V, Financial) network.
The video explains how regulations influenced many banks to relocate to South Dakota and Delaware and how credit cards became so profitable. Finally, it looks at how credit card debt rocketed from the '80s to today when consumers have more than $880 billion of debt.
For such a short video, I found this to be educational and helpful.
