The proliferation of credit cards happened before the proliferation of the internet. How did credit cards work before the internet?

Question

The proliferation of credit cards happened before the proliferation of the internet. How did credit cards work before the internet?

In: 155

Answer 1

The earliest cards you would take an [impression of the card](https://imgur.com/lYjFzrV) and at the end of the month the retailer would mail in their credit card slips and get a check back for the charges. Think of this as really being “credit”. A retailer would extend you credit because they knew they’d get paid back at the end of the month from your card company.

The next step was transmitting card transactions via phone lines. Just modems sending the info back and forth. Modern transactions work mostly the same way, but instead of phone lines, they use the internet.