Friday afternoon nostalgia - My first credit card

Road_Hog

MSE doesn't allow you to embed videos, so you'll have to click on the link to view - Takes you to a Youtube video of an Access credit card advert.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMpfDBZ2kO0

warwicktiger

Mine was an access one too, in 1976. I think it had a £100 limit!

Jack1888

"No stranger to the bar were we?" Best quote ever!

As I recall, my father had an Access with Midland Bank!

You always remember their slogan

Ben8282

Jack1888 wrote: »

"No stranger to the bar were we?" Best quote ever!

As I recall, my father had an Access with Midland Bank!

You always remember their slogan

The listening bank for Midland and your flexible firend for Access.

My first cc was a Natwest Access.

opinions4u

1986 Girobank gave me my first credit card with a £250 limit.

Fairly sure it was VISA.

I recall the Olympic rings on the card. Presumably part of some sponsorship deal ahead of the 1988 games.

First purchase: £250 towards a Sony hi-fi system with 3 free CDs.

Jack1888

Ah yes The Listening Bank! When did Access become MC then? And why?

From what I gather, Access were pretty success as a product.

_Andy_

I miss asbokid

Ben8282

Jack1888 wrote: »

Ah yes The Listening Bank! When did Access become MC then? And why?

From what I gather, Access were pretty success as a product.

The Access brandname stopped being used for Mastercards late 80's sometime

Road_Hog

Jack1888 wrote: »

When did Access become MC then? And why?

From what I gather, Access were pretty success as a product.

Wiki say 1996. As to why, because Access was basically a Mastercard, just as the other main credit card at the time was a Barclaycard which was Visa.

Access was so successful in the UK, that it outshone Mastercard and people didn't realise it was one and then same. Obviously at that time, companies were starting to realise globalisation and it caused confusion, because people thought that Access was completely different, so strong was the brand.

So Mastercard paid off the owners of the brand (bought the rights and closed it down) - Nat West, Midlands, Lloyds and RBS, with an agreement that these banks would then just change the customers' accounts (automatically) and issue them with a Mastercard branded card.

And Access was no more, a victim of its own success.

Ben8282

1996? Sounds a bit late to me. I say this because I obtained one of the 'new' gold mastercards (the very first gold coloured card I ever held) from Lloyds/TSB around 1989-1991 and it was issued as a Mastercard and not an access.

giblet10

My first credit card was a First Direct Visa..that was 19 years ago..imagine going to FD now for a credit card without any credit history..how times have changed..