1887 – Edward Bellamy invents the concept of making a purchase using a card, in his utopian novel Looking Backward.
1920 – Oil companies issue their own proprietary cards, and individual companies offer credit to their customers whom they would bill later.
1949 – McNamara started The Dinner Club (charge / debit card), for payment of restaurant bills without cash. The system offered individuals credit for many companies, then billed the customer and paid the companies later.
1850 – American Express, which started as a shipping company, issued its first charge card in 1958. Within five years, more than 1 million cards were in use within and outside the United States.
1958 – Bank of America launched BankAmericard, the first consumer credit card program.
1966 – A group of banks created MasterCard to compete with BankAmericard.
1970 – BankAmericard became an independent entity and launched the world’s first truly electronic authorization. The card was re-branded as VISA.
1998 – PayPal launched its online transfer services.

Source: www.creditdonkey.com