Visa began by mailing 60,000 live credit cards to people who never asked.
On September 18, 1958, Bank of America mailed 60,000 Fresno residents a working BankAmericard, Visa’s direct ancestor, with up to $500 of credit and no application. Thieves stole cards from mailboxes, a brand-new crime, and far more cardholders fell behind than the bank expected. In 1970 Congress banned mailing cards nobody had asked for.
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