Foreword
Now ubiquitous, the credit card made its first appearance in 1950, when Diners Club introduced a charge card that allowed its customers to purchase meals at participating restaurants and pay when they received their bill. General-purpose bank credit cards, accepted by many different merchants, soon followed. These gave customers the option of maintaining a revolving balance — meaning that they didn’t have to pay their bills in full at the end of each cycle but risked accumulating finance charges. Credit card regulation began in 1968 with passage of the Truth in Lending Act, which required clear disclosure by issuers of…
