<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Visa, a/k/a BankAmericard, and MasterCard, a/k/a Master Charge, were competing consumer credit products put out in the late 1950s/early 1960s, by Bank of America and a consortium of banks including Wells Fargo and the Bank of California, respectively. </font>
New York’s Marine Midland Bank introduced the Interbank card in 1966. This was offered by a growing number of banks to compete with BankAmericard. The card became Master Charge, and later MasterCard.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">They are generally recognized as the first national charge cards not tied to a specific type of purchase (e.g. Diner's Card for restaurants). </font>
There is a difference between credit cards and charge cards. Visa and MasterCard are credit cards. Diners and American Express (until recently) offerred only charge cards.
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Craig