ABSTRACT
Plastic cards, which provide a payment system and access to credit facilities, now dominate UK consumer spending. They were developed in the USA and, in today’s fast-moving, highly technological, ‘instant’ society, have contributed substantially to a major change to our payment and purchasing habits. Many banks, financial organisations, large retail groups, national institutions and so on, insist on providing their customers and members with their own ‘branded’ cards for purchasing goods or services, whether it be for settlement immediately or sometime in the future.
