Which bank launched the first general-purpose credit card, BankAmericard, in 1958?

Bank of America launched the first general-purpose credit card, BankAmericard, in 1958. The program officially began on September 18, 1958, in Fresno, California.

BankAmericard was developed by Bank of America’s Customer Services Research Group, led by Joseph P. Williams. Unlike store charge cards, which were limited to particular merchants or usually required full payment, BankAmericard offered revolving credit that could be used at many participating businesses. That made it a general-purpose payment instrument.

The launch was ambitious: Bank of America mailed 65,000 unsolicited cards to Fresno residents in the initial “drop.” The experiment soon expanded across California, but the bank encountered heavy losses, widespread delinquency and an early wave of credit-card fraud. BankAmericard eventually became profitable after the bank tightened controls and improved the system.

The name also explains a frequent historical confusion. BankAmericard was not originally called Visa. Bank of America began licensing the system to other banks in 1966, and the international network adopted the name Visa in 1976; the card itself was renamed Visa in 1977. The modern Visa network therefore traces its roots to this Bank of America initiative.