What came first? The wallet or the credit card?

What came first the chicken or the egg? Vigorous debate can ensue and we will probably never know the answer to that question. It’s fun to think about so we’ll pose another question to you: What came first, the credit card or the wallet that credit card fits into?

That one is actually easy so no debate will be needed and certainly no fisticuffs will be necessary for a barroom discussion. The wallet came first.

Early credit cards were roughly the size of what we know today as the credit card. The first true credit card, the Bankamericard was slightly longer than today’s cards but not by much. The cards themselves were deliberately made the same size as business cards, membership cards and government issued cards like a driver’s license and wallets were already being manufactured with compartments to hold those. There was no need to reinvent the wheel and the credit card has remained the same size and those wallet compartments are still there.

The size of the card does not even predate the wallet, dating to 15th century China cards were used to announce to the local populace an upcoming royal visit. These were about the size of a modern day playing card but fit perfectly into the wallets of the time. They became popular in the French court in the 17th century as a calling card that would be given to someone in the royal court who would then determine if they would receive the visitor. In England cards of the same size were used as trade cards, or as we would know them today, business cards. How they were reduced in size is unknown. Some believe that they were reduced in size to fit into a box of tobacco that was carried in someone’s pocket. Some say it was a limitation of the printing process or that someone just wanted to get more cards printed for their money.

The International Standards of Organization (ISO) determines global standards for just about everything we use from technology around the world to the width of a screw and the organization also predates the credit card. With the United States having emerged as a global superpower it was natural that their innovations would become standards for around the world and the credit card was no different. The size (and thickness) were adopted by the ISO as a global standard.