AmEx Credit Card

Posted in amex credit card on January 12 2009

There are very few people in the world who are not familiar with the AmEx credit card as American Express has long since established itself as probably the premiere credit card company in the world. Many people, however, believe that the company is a relatively new one because they were first introduced to American Express in the 1960’s and 1970’s thanks to a number of popular commercials. But, American Express has been around a lot longer than most people realize.

Believe it or not, American Express originally started as a special delivery service in the 1850’s and then later expanded into the finance business circa the early 1880’s. The company’s first venture into the world of finance started initially with the sale of money orders and this proved successful enough for the company to later expand into other ventures as well. The AmEx credit card eventually debuted in 1958 and were wildly popular. In back, close to a quarter of a million applications flooded the company when the card – originally designed to be a competitor to the Diner’s Club card – debuted. Originally, the credit card was not a card at all. It was merely an account number and name typed on paper. However, the plastic lamented card would debut in 1959 and it was an invention of American Express. Yes, American Express was the first company to actually issue credit vouchers in a card form. The popularity of American Express would grow gradually over the years and thanks to the legendary Karl Malden “Don’t Leave Home Without It” commercials of the 1970’s the card would literally become the part of the pop cultural landscape of America. In fact, without these brilliant commercials American Express would have surely lost ground to the emerging competition provided by Visa and Mastercard.

Of course, advertising campaigns can only take a product so far. It is merit, fair rates and solid customer service that has made the AmEx credit card as popular as they are and they will continue to remain popular for many more years to come. In other words, no one will be leaving home without it.

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