Credit cards can be a great boon to many people, and have been since the introduction of the first one, BarclayCard, back in 1966, which then enjoyed a credit card monopoly into the seventies, when, in 1972, Access was launched. Nowadays every major ( and minor) Bank, large store, etc, have added to the virtually thousands of cards to choose from. The introduction of so many plastic money sources, for many of us, has caused an uncontrollable temptation to spiral into consumer debt.