Credit Cards Trivia
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100 free Credit Cards trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This credit cards trivia quiz starts with the metal charge coins and Charga-Plates of the early 20th century, the Air Travel Card, the forgotten-wallet legend behind Diners Club and the 1958 Fresno mailing that launched BankAmericard and, eventually, Visa. It follows the birth of Master Charge, Barclaycard, Discover and the American Express Centurion card, and the unsolicited card drops that Congress finally banned in 1970. The second half is about how cards actually work: the standard size, the Luhn check digit, the security code on the back, the meaning of EMV, the difference between a charge card and a credit card, grace periods, interchange fees, cash advances and the consumer protections in the Credit CARD Act of 2009. Difficulty runs from easy to expert and is shown on every question. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries its citation. Try our credit unions and money quizzes next.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which year did Diners Club produce the first general-purpose charge card?
1950
Diners Club issued its charge card in 1950, after Frank McNamara and Ralph Schneider wanted a single card that many New York merchants would accept.
Q 02Per company legend, what did Frank McNamara forget at a restaurant in 1949, inspiring Diners Club?
His wallet
Company legend says McNamara forgot his wallet at New York's Major's Cabin Grill; Diners Club dubbed his return visit 'The First Supper', though its own press agent later called the story invented.
Q 03Which hotel chain originated the Carte Blanche charge card?
Hilton
Carte Blanche began as the Hilton Hotels credit card in the late 1950s, a travel-and-entertainment card competing with Diners Club before Citibank acquired it.
Q 04In which year did Diners Club introduce its first plastic card?
1961
Diners Club switched from cardboard to its first plastic card in 1961; the earliest cards had been printed on paper stock.
Q 05In which California city did Bank of America first test-launch BankAmericard?
Fresno
Bank of America chose Fresno because about 45% of its 250,000 residents already banked there and the city's isolation would contain any failure.
Q 06Roughly how many unsolicited cards did Bank of America mail in its initial BankAmericard 'drop'?
65,000
Bank of America's initial mailing sent roughly 65,000 unsolicited BankAmericards to one city's residents; within a year more than 2 million cards had been issued across California.
Q 07How much did Bank of America officially lose on the launch of BankAmericard?
Over $8.8 million
Bank of America's official loss on the BankAmericard launch was over $8.8 million; counting advertising and overhead the true figure was nearer $20 million, yet the card soon turned profitable.
Q 08In which year did the BankAmericard licensees unify under the name Visa?
1976
The BankAmericard licensees around the world unified under the single name Visa in 1976, keeping the card's blue, white and gold flag design.
Q 09Who was Visa's first CEO, the man who also coined its name?
Dee Hock
Dee Hock, who had run a Seattle bank's BankAmericard licence, became the first CEO of the member-owned card association and picked the name Visa.
Q 10What was Mastercard called before it adopted its current name in 1979?
Master Charge
Master Charge was the brand of the Interbank Card Association's card from 1969 until the 1979 renaming to MasterCard; Citibank's Everything Card was absorbed into it in 1969.
Q 11The two overlapping circles of the Mastercard logo came from which regional banking group?
Western States Bankcard Association
The Western States Bankcard Association, a group of California banks, created the interlocking-circles logo; the Interbank Card Association acquired the rights to it in 1969.
Q 12In which New York town is Mastercard headquartered?
Purchase
Mastercard's global headquarters sits in Purchase, a hamlet in the town of Harrison in Westchester County; the company has been publicly traded since its 2006 IPO.
Q 13What is Mastercard's long-running advertising tagline?
Priceless
Q 21Which airline helped create the Air Travel Card in 1934, letting passengers buy now and pay later?
American Airlines
American Airlines and the Air Transport Association created the Air Travel Card in 1934; holders got a 15% discount, and by 1941 about half of airline revenues came through the scheme.
Q 22In which year were unsolicited mass mailings of credit cards outlawed in the United States?
1970
Congress banned unsolicited credit card mailings in 1970, after roughly 100 million cards had been dropped on the public, including, Life magazine complained, on drunks and compulsive debtors.
Q 23Which 1888 utopian novel by Edward Bellamy describes a concept it calls credit cards?
Looking Backward
Mastercard's 'Priceless' campaign began in 1997 with the line 'There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's Mastercard.'
Q 14American Express was founded in 1850 in Buffalo, New York, as what kind of business?
A freight forwarding company
American Express started as a freight forwarding company, an express business moving parcels and valuables; founders Henry Wells and William Fargo went on to start Wells Fargo in 1852.
Q 15In which year did American Express issue its first charge card?
1958
American Express issued its first charge card in 1958 on paper stock; the Gold Card followed in 1966, the green card in 1969 and the Platinum Card in 1984.
Q 16What is the invitation-only American Express card launched in 1999, nicknamed the 'black card'?
Centurion
The Centurion Card is offered by invitation to American Express's highest spenders; the company created it in 1999 after an urban legend about a secret black card spread.
Q 17Which retailer introduced the Discover card in 1985?
Sears
Sears launched Discover in 1985 through its Dean Witter financial arm; the card charged no annual fee and paid a cash-back bonus, both unusual at the time.
Q 18What was the value of the first trial Discover transaction, in Atlanta in September 1985?
$26.77
The first trial Discover transaction, rung up at an Atlanta store in September 1985, came to $26.77; the card rolled out nationally the next year.
Q 19Which was the first credit card issued in the United Kingdom, launched in 1966?
Barclaycard
Barclaycard, launched by Barclays in June 1966, was Britain's first credit card; it began as a charge card and offered revolving credit from November 1967.
Q 20What was the Charga-Plate, used in US stores from the 1930s to the late 1950s?
An embossed metal card imprinted onto sales slips
The Charga-Plate was an embossed metal card imprinted onto sales slips; Farrington Manufacturing developed it in 1928 and some stores kept the plates on file rather than giving them to customers.
Bellamy's Looking Backward (1888) uses the term 'credit card', though his cards work more like modern debit cards, drawing down each citizen's share of national output.
Q 24How does a charge card differ from a credit card?
The balance must be repaid in full each cycle
A charge card's balance must be repaid in full each cycle, while a credit card lets the holder carry a revolving balance and pay interest on it.
Q 25What are the standard dimensions of a credit card under the ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1 standard?
85.60 by 53.98 mm
ID-1 cards measure 85.60 by 53.98 mm, the same format used for ATM and debit cards, with corners rounded to a radius of about 3 mm.
Q 26What does the final numeral of a payment card number represent?
A Luhn check digit
The last digit is a Luhn check digit; the mod-10 formula, devised at IBM in the 1950s, catches mistyped numbers but is not a security measure.
Q 27What do the first six or eight digits of a card number identify?
The issuer
This issuer identification number, or BIN, starts with a major industry identifier digit.
Q 28How many digits can a payment card number have?
8 to 19
ISO/IEC 7812 allows a card number of 8 to 19 digits; most Visa and Mastercard numbers use 16, while older Visa ranges used 13.
Q 29Which IBM engineer devised the magnetic stripe card in 1960?
Forrest Parry
IBM engineer Forrest Parry devised the magnetic stripe card in 1960; the story goes that his wife suggested fixing the stripe to the plastic with a clothes iron.
Q 30Where is the security number printed on an American Express card?
A four-digit code on the front
American Express prints a four-digit code on the front of the card, above the account number; Visa, Mastercard and Discover put a three-digit code on the back.