The origin of the first credit cards goes as far back as to the end of the 19th century, when exchanges of good were made sold and the merchant offering credit and a credit card (usually a paper-made statement, metal coins, metal plates, celluloid, or fiber) to the buyer.

Later on, in the early 20th century, oil companies and hotel chains began to use credit cards, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. But the first plastic credit card as we know it today was invented by John Biggins, from the Flatbush National Bank of Brooklyn (New York), when the banks, for the first time, could bill merchants for using the card when their deposit payslips were left in the bank.