Credit cards in the 1970s?

[LordGarmadon]

Watching a show on Netflix ... the police are investigating a cold case and said that a credit card was last used in a pub in 1978.

So, a question for the more mature MN user, could you use a credit card in a pub in the 1970s? Was it a done thing?

I remember my parents only having cash or cheque well into the 80s.

Here’s you answer Access your flexible friend
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Access_(credit_card)

"Does you do, or does you don't take Access".

I think there was another one-maybe Mastercard, but they charged a monthly fee.

... but was it available in pubs? And was it widely used?

This show is saying that a young man used a card in a smallish/back street type pub. I imagine if a card was used back then that it would be used by middle aged, middle class men in department stores... but that assumption is based on absolutely nothing!!

It was pretty widely used. I don't know about pubs (drinks cost more than 6d so no way would we have gone there ) but certainly some smallish cafes had them and a fair number of shops including petrol stations.

Pubs that sold meals etc, yes. It was just a paper duplicate form you filled in. After that came the machine you rubbed across it to save you writing the details, and eventually a swipe which became the chip and pin/contactless machine we have today.

I remember going into pubs in the 90s and it being unusual to pay with a card. And when you did people would huff and puff because it was a faff. In those days you had to write out a paper slip and use the machine to take an imprint of the card.

I wouldn’t think it was common to use a card in a pub in the 70s based on my experience of pubs in the 90s and 80s when I certainly wasn’t drinking under age at all, oh no.

That said in the 80s I worked in a pub doing Sunday roasts and some people paid with cards then.

What is there series, op?

Well I never! Why on Earth was my dad carrying a cheque book folded in half in his pocket up until the early 90s!

People used cheques and credit cards separately just as we use debit cards and credit cards though. The cheque book k money from your account just like the debit card does. The credit card gave the pay later option.

That's what I was basing my knowledge on ... the faff involved into the 90s.

Actually... when I did bar work between 1997-2004 I don't think I remember taking one credit/debit card payment.

I had my first credit card around 1980. It was called an access card. They certainly weren't as popular as they are now though and I dont remember using it in a pub. I used it mainly for bigger purchases. It was just another way of getting credit really.

Well, they would have had to have had the card machine of the day that took the paper slip that you had to fill in then rub back and forth to get the imprint of the card and your business details - a right faff. It’s unlikely I’d say, but certainly possible.

Yes, although less so for drinks than for meals. I was a waitress then, I’d forgotten all about the machines with the carbon paper thingies you got an impression of the card on then got the customer to sign. Access or Visa were the brands, or if you were very posh and rich American Express (‘that’ll do nicely ”) but that was for Businessmen not for ordinary folks.

Oooh was it the first series of unforgotten!?!?!?

I remember my dad paying for meals in restaurants / bar meals with his card. It was always hit or miss that each place would take cards. One if our big holidays was late 70's and I definitely remember faffing around finding appropriate places then.

I used a credit card in the 70s for petrol and asda supermarkets mostly.

If we went out for a meal then we paid by credit card but definitely not just for drinks.

I am only just getting my head around using contactless for drinks etc. Many shops wouldn't take cards for less than a fiver up until fairly recently

In those days you had to write out a paper slip and use the machine to take an imprint of the card.

I still had those machines -albeit as backup if the main swipe thing in till wouldn't work - when I got a job in a large supermarket, must have been early-mid-90s?

Access, Barclaycard, American Express, Diners.

I remember credit cards being used in bars in the late 70's. I was offered and accepted a Barclaycard in 1979. Had a £300 limit. Rarely used it.

My parents would pay with cash or a cheque if we had a meal in a pub/restaurant type place when I was a child in the 70s. Some restaurants did take access, I remember seeing signs stating that somewhere did not accept American Express.
I think using a credit card in a normal pub in the 70s is extremely unlikely, as even in the 90s it was a faff, all the writing out of slips etc.

It shocks me now to think that I was given a Barclaycard by my bank as an 18 year old starting university in 1982, without even applying for one. I used it once, then got a fright when I got the bill a month later. I literally hadn't a clue how they worked.

I had a TSB trust card in the early eighties and used it to pay for meals both here and abroad.

When paying by cheque then, you had to write the number of your bank card on the back, as a guarantee that the cheque would be paid.

It's the Unforgotten, series 1.

I thought it sounded a bit far fetched... other than that, it's good, I've enjoyed it.

We binge watched it last weekend as I had to know how it eneded! I thought it was really good. We're trying to find time for series 2.

There was a series three but I missed it on ITV. I’m waiting for it to show up on Netflix.

When paying by cheque then, you had to write the number of your bank card on the back, as a guarantee that the cheque would be paid.

OMG yes! I was always a bit impressed by people who had a £100 cheque guarantee card too! Most people only had £50!

(Were cheque guarantee cards different to debit cards? My memory is hazy.)