Bankcard was the first widely used credit card in Australia and at its height had five million users.

Bankcard was launched in 1974 and before that the only payment cards that were available in Australia were a couple of store cards, Diners Card and American Express, which were charge cards.  Charge cards are not like credit cards as the balance has to be settled every month.  As these cards are aimed mainly at business travellers then their ability was limited by the fact that they were only really accepted in a number of expensive restaurants, hotels and airports.  Store cards tended to be limited to the store in which they were issued.
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