Diners Club introduced the first widely recognized multi-purpose charge card in 1950. Frank McNamara, Ralph Schneider, and Alfred Bloomingdale developed the idea after McNamara reportedly faced difficulty paying a restaurant bill without his wallet.
Diners Club International was founded on February 8, 1950. Its original cardboard card could be used at participating restaurants, with customers paying their accumulated balance at the end of each month. The first network listed 27 restaurants and initially served about 200 friends and acquaintances of the founders.
This was a charge card, not a modern revolving-credit card: users generally had to pay the full balance monthly. The first plastic Diners Club card appeared in 1961. Visa and Mastercard emerged later from bank-card systems, while American Express entered the charge-card market afterward.